PK 

aIts a^a^^^^' seRies of 
jNglish classics 





Shakespeare 
Julius Caesar 



EDITED BY 

S. THURBER 



c^. 



co»»>-««<o^ 




^LLYN AND BACON 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

©Inp. :...... ®opt;rig^ :f 

Shelf ^.^Jj:. 



I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



EifC acaicmg Scrirs of lEiigltst) Classics 



SHAKESPEARE wiilio..^ 



JULIUS C^SAR 



^ 







EDITED BY 

SAMUEL THURBER 






^'^^J^ ^n' 



aXL. 



Boston 

ALLYN AND BACON 



K 



fT\ a,?oS 



Copyright, 1S95, by 
SAMUEL THURBER 



R-3f^l(fi 



PRESS OF 
BOSTON, U.S.A. 



PREFACE. 



This edition of Julius Caesar offers itself simply as a 
beginner's book in Shakespeare. The young student of 
literatura reads not merely for the pleasure of the hour, 
but also, and mainly, for the purpose of forming habits 
of self-reliance, of acquiring skill in an art, of enlarg- 
ing his acquaintance with books, of coming into deeper 
relation with human life. It is chiefly important for 
the beginner that he should learn to solve his own 
difficulties. 

The mature reader, to whom the difficulties appear 
trivial, is often too ready to hand over the solution of 
them at the instant of their appearance ; and if the ob- 
ject of the recitation is simply to move as rapidly as 
possible through the play, or to let the class listen to 
voluble exposition by the teacher, then such a method is 
fitting. But this procedure deprives the learner of his 
opportunity to learn. The process through which the 
ripe scholar has passed to attain his ripeness is the type 
of the course which the beginner must follow to achieve 
the object of his study. 

To what sort of activity shall the task of getting his 
Shakespeare lesson introduce the young pupil ? If he 
has a body of notes that make everything plain, he will 
have merely to con first the text and then the notes, 



iy PREFACE. 

making some effort of memory to keep himself primed 
for recitation tests. This process does him almost no 
good at all. As new plays are taken in hand, he still 
continues to con notes if he can get at them, and is 
helpless if he cannot. This helplessness, however, is 
better than a crammed memory, because it leaves the 
learner free to undertake a reasonable course of Avoi'k, 
unhindered by the conceit that he knows already all 
there is to be known. 

Into this reasonable course of work I have tried to 
initiate the pupil by giving him in the form of notes little 
tasks of search, comparison, and inference. Wherever 
obscurity of word or phrase could be cleared up by ref- 
erence to other passages in the plays, I have referred to 
those passages. Pupils should look up these references, 
report their observations, and infer from comparison the 
meaning that was not clear in the single instance. 

The difficulties of Shakespeare's diction are to be con- 
quered only by persistent struggle with each difficulty 
as it arises. A conquest thus made, by exercise of the 
judgment rather than of the memory, is a conquest made 
for good. The resolute student soon finds his task grow- 
ing easy. If a crucial trouble presents itself, he knows 
how to go to work, and will soon ascertain, by profitable 
ranging in the fields of commentary, how the point in 
question has been dealt with by generations of scholars. 

I have made references to the plays at large, and oc- 
casionally to other books that are sure to be in every 
secondary school library. No one ought to attempt 
scholarly study of one play without having all the plays 
at hand. Single-volume Shakespeares, like the Globe 



PREFACE. V 

edition, are exceedingly cheap, and the class-room should 
be liberally furnished with them. 

On questions concerned with the interpretation of the 
poet's thought and the proper understanding of his dra- 
matic intention, I have given hints and suggestions, with 
occasional queries that may lead to discussion, rather 
than disquisitions of my own. Elaborate essays on liter- 
ary topics are wholly out of place in a book for young 
people. 

Shakespeare's dependence for his facts on his histori- 
cal sources being especially clear and interesting in the 
Eoman plays, and peculiarly so in the Julius Csesar, I 
have given frequent quotations from North's translation 
of Amyot's Plutarch. The young reader will perhaps 
from these citations get some idea of the difference there 
is between excellent drama and excellent narrative. To 
observe the poet's transmutation of story into play is 
to take a lesson in literature of the utmost value. 

In studying Julius Caesar, the class should have access 
to Plutarch's lives of Brutus, Caesar, and Antony. The 
modern translations will serve to give the historical facts, 
but it was Sir Thomas North's that Shakespeare used, 
and North's very language so often appears in the play 
that it is far more instructive to read the very words 
that the poet read himself. The lives from which he 
drew the main events of his Eoman plots are easily 
accessible in Hazlitt's Shakespeare's Library, and in 
Skeat's Shakespeare's Plutarch. 

Other books desirable in the study of Shakespeare 
generally are : Bartlett's Concordance to Shakespeare, 
— a book of untold value to the Shakespeare student ; 



yi PREFACE. 

Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon ; Piirness's Variorum 
Shakespeare, — nine plays now edited, Caesar not among 
them ; Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar ; Dowden's 
Shakespere, in the series of Literature Primers. 

The competent teacher of Shakespeare will have read 
all the plays, some of them many times, and much other 
Elizabethan literature. Nothing that can be put in a 
book, nothing that can be conveyed in a lecture, can 
compensate for the maturity of knowledge that each 
reader gains for himself from long familiarity with his 
author. 

S. Thurber. 



JULIUS C/ESAR. 



DRAMATIS PERSON-^. 



Julius C^sar, 
octavius o^sar, 
Marcus Antonius, 
M. JEmilius Lepidus, 
Cicero, ) 

PUBLIUS, 

PopiLius Lena, • 
Marcus Brutus, 

Cassius, 

Casca, 

Trebonius, 

LiGARIUS, 

Decius Brutus, 
Metellus Cimber, 

CiNNA, 

Flavius and MARULI.US, tribunes. 
Artemidorus of Cnidos, a teacher 

of Rhetoric. 
A Soothsaj'er. 
CiNNA, a Poet. Another Poet. 



triumvirs 

after the death of 

Julius Ca3sar. 



senators. 



conspirators 

against 
Julius Caesar. 



friends to Brutus 
and Cassius. 



servants to Brutus. 



LuciLius, 

Titinius, 

Mess ALA, 

Young Cato, 

volumnius, 

Varro, 

Clitus, 

Claudius, 

Strato, 

Lucius, 

Dardanius, 

PiNDARUS, servant to Cassius. 

Calpurnia, wife to Caesar. 

Portia, wife to Brutus. 

Senators, Citizens, Guards, Attend- 
ants, etc. 

Scene : Rome ; the neighborhood of 
jSardis ; the neighborhood of 
Philippi. 



ACT I. 

Scene I. Rome. A Street. 

Enter Flavius, Marullus, and certain Commoners. 

Flav. Hence ! home, you idle creatures, get you home 
Is this a holiday ? what ! know you not, 
Being mechanical, you ought not walk 
Upon a laboring day without the sign 
Of your profession ? Speak, what trade art thou ? i 

First Com. Why, sir, a carpenter. 

Mar. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule ? 
What dost thou with thy best apparel on ? 
You, sir, what trade are you ? 



4 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Sec. Com. Truly, sir, in respect of a fine Avorkman, 
I am but, as you would say, a cobbler. 

Ma7\ But what trade art thou ? answer me directly. 

Sec. Com. A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a 
safe conscience ; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles. 

Mar. What trade, thou knave ? thou naughty knave, 
what trade ? 

Sec. Com. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with 
me : yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you. 

Mar. What meanest thou by that ? inend me, thou 
saucy fellow ! 

Sec. Com. Why, sir, cobble you. 20 

Flav. Thou art a cobbler, art thou ? 

Sec. Com. Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the 
awl : I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's 
matters, but with awl. I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon to 
old shoes ; when they are in great danger, I recover them. 
As proper men as ever trod upon neat's-leather have gone 
upon my handiwork. 

Flav. But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day ? 
Why dost thou lead these men about the streets ? 

Sec. Com. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get 
myself into more work. But indeed, sir, we make holi- 
day, to see Caesar and to rejoice in his triumph. 

Mar. Wherefore rejoice ? What conquest brings he 
home ? 
What tributaries follow him to Rome, 
To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels ? 35 

You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things ! 
you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, 
Knew you not Pompey ? Many a time and oft 
Have you climbed up to walls and battlements, 



ACT I. SCENE I. 5 

To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops, 40 

Your infants in your arms, and there have sat 

Tlie live-long day, with patient expectation. 

To see great Pompey pass the streets of Home : 

And when yon saw his chariot but appear, 

Have you not made an universal shout, 45 

That Tiber trembled underneath her banks. 

To hear the replication of your sounds 

Made in her concave shores ? 

And do you now put on your best attire ? 

And do you now cull out a holiday ? 50 

And do you now strew flowers in his way 

That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood ? 

Be gone ! 

E-un to your houses, fall upon your knees, 

Pray to the gods to intermit the plague 55 

That needs must light on this ingratitude. 

Flav. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault. 
Assemble all the poor men of your sort ; 
Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears 
Into the channel, till the lowest stream 00 

Do kiss the most exalted shores of all. 

\_Exeunt all the Coinviioners. 
See, whether their basest metal be not moved ; 
They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness. 
Go you down that way towards the Capitol ; 
This way will I : disrobe the images, 65 

If you do find them decked with ceremonies. 

Mar. May we do so ? 
You know it is the feast of Lupercal. 

Flav.- It is no matter ; let no images 
Be hung with Caesar's trophies. T '\\ about, 70 



6 JULIUS CAESAR. 

And drive away the vulgar from the streets : 

So do you too, where you perceive them thick. 

These growing feathers plucked from Caesar's wing 

Will make him fly an ordinary pitch, 

Who else would soar above the view of men 75 

And keep us all in servile fearfulness. \_Exeunt. 

Scene II. A public place. 

Flourish. Enter Cesar ; Antony, for the course ; Cal- 

puRNiA, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, 

and Casca ; a great crowd foUoiuing, among them a 

Soothsayer. 

Cms. Calpurnia ! 

Casca. Peace, ho ! Caesar speaks. 

Cces. Calpurnia ! 

Cal. Here, my lord. 

CcRS. Stand you directly in Antonius' way. 
When he doth run his course. Antonius ! 

Ant. Caesar, my lord ? 5 

Cces. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, 
To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say. 
The barren, touched in this holy chase, 
Shake off their sterile curse. 

Ant. I shall remember : 

When Caesar says '' do this," it is performed. 10 

Cces. Set on ; and leave no ceremony out. \_Flourlsli. 

Sooth. Caesar ! 

Cces. Ha ! who calls ? 

Casca. Bid every noise be still : peace yet again ! 

Cais. Who is it in the press that calls on me ? 15 

I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, 
Cry "Caesar ! " Speak ; Caesar is turned to hear. 

Sooth. Beware the ides of March. 



ACT I. SCENE 11. 7 

Cms. ' What man is that ? 

Brii. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. 

Cces. Set him before me ; let me see his face. 20 

Cos. Fellow, come from, the throng ; look upon Caesar. 

Cces. What say'st thou to me now ? speak once again. 

Sooth. Beware the ides of March. 

Cces. He is a dreamer ; let us leave him : pass. 

\_Sennet. Exeunt all hut Brutus and Cassius. 

Cas. Will you go see the order of the course ? 2."3 

Bru. Not I. 

Cas. I pray you, do. 

Bru. I am not gamesome : I do lack some part 
Of that quick spirit that is in Antony. 
Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires ; 30 

I '11 leave you. 

Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late : 
I have not from your eyes that gentleness 
And show of love as I was wont to have : 
You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand 35 

Over your friend that loves you. 

Bru. Cassius, 

Be not deceived : if I have veiled my look, 
I turn the trouble of my countenance 
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am 

Of late with passions of some difference, 40 

Conceptions only proper to myself. 
Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviors ; 
But let not therefore my good friends be grieved — 
Among which number, Cassius, be you one — 
Nor construe any further my neglect, 45 

Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war. 
Forgets the shows of love to other men. 



8 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion ; 
By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried 
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations. 50 

Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face ? 

Bru. No, Cassius ; for the eye sees not itself, 
But by reflection, by some other things. 

Cas. 'T is just : 
And it is ver}^ much lamented, Brutus, 55 

That you have no such mirrors as will turn 
Your hidden worthiness into your eye. 
That you might see your shadow. I have heard. 
Where many of the best respect in Rome, 
Except immortal Csesar, speaking of Brutus 60 

And groaning underneath this age's yoke. 
Have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes. 

Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, 
That you would have me seek into myself 
For that which is not in me ? 65 

Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear : 
And since you know you cannot see yourself 
So well as by reflection, I, your glass. 
Will modestly discover to yourself 

That of yourself which you yet know not of. 70 

And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus : 
Were I a common laugher, or did use 
To stale with ordinary oaths my love 
To every new protester ; if you know 
That I do fawn on men and hug them hard, 75 

And after scandal them -, or if you know 
That I profess myself in banqueting 
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous. 

\_Flourisli and shout. 



ACT I. SCENE 11. 9 

Bru. What means this shouting ? I do fear, the people 
Choose Caesar for their king. 

Cas. Ay, do you fear it ? SO 

Then must I think you would not have it so. 

Brit. I would not, Cassius ; yet I love him well. 
But wherefore do you hold me here so long ? 
What is it that you would impart to me ? 
If it be ought toAvard the general good, 85 

Set honor in one eye and death i' the other, 
And I will look on both indifferently : 
For let the gods so speed me as I love 
The name of honor more than I fear death. 

Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, 90 

As well as I do know your outward favor. 
Well, honor is the subject of my story. 
I cannot tell what you and other men 
Think of this life ; but, for my single self, 
I had as lief not be as live to be 95 

In awe of such a thing as I myself. 
I was born free as Caesar ; so were you : 
We both have fed as well, and we can both 
Endure the winter's cold as well as he : 
For once, upon a. raw and gusty day, 100 

The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, 
Caesar said to me, '' Barest thou, Cassius, now 
Leap in with me into this angry flood, 
And swim to yonder point?" Upon the word. 
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in 105 

And bade him follow ; so indeed he did. 
The torrent roared, and we did buffet it 
With lustv sinews, throwinsr it aside 
And stemming it with hearts of controversy ; 



10 JULIUS CAJSAK. 

But ere we could arrive the point proposed, 110 

Caesar cried, " Help me, Cassius, or I sink ! " 

I, as ^neas, oui- great ancestor, 

Did from tlie flames of Troy upon his shoulder 

The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber 

Did I the tired Caesar : and this man 115 

Is now become a god, and Cassius is 

A wretched creature and must bend his body. 

If Caesar carelessly but nod on him. 

He had a fever when he was in Spain, 

And when the lit was on him, I did mark 120 

How he did shake : 't is true, this god did shake : 

His coward lips did from their color fly, 

And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world 

Did lose his lustre : I did hear him groan : 

Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans 125 

Mark him and write his speeches in their books, 

Alas, it cried, " G-ive me some drink, Titinius," 

As a sick girl. Ye gods ! it doth amaze me 

A man of such a feeble temper should 

So get the start of the majestic Avorld 130 

And bear the palm alone. [_Shout. Flourish. 

Bru. Another general shout ! 
I do believe that these applauses are 
For some new honprs that are heaped on Caesar. 

Cas. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world 135 
Like a Colossus, and we petty men 
Walk under his huge legs and peep about 
To find ourselves dishonorable graves. 
Men at some time are masters of their fates : 
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 140 

But in ourselves, that we are underlings. 



ACT I. SCENE 11. 11 

Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that '"Caesar" ? ' 

Why should that name be sounded more than yours ? 

Write them together, yours is as fair a name ; 

Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; 14o 

Weigh them, it is as heavy ; conjure with 'em, 

Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar. 

ISTow, in the names of all the gods at once, 

Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed. 

That he is grown so great ? Age, thou art shamed ! 150 

Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods ! 

When went there by an age, since the great flood. 

But it was famed with more than Avith one man ? 

When could they say till now, that talked of Rome, 

That her wide walls encompassed but one man ? 155 

I^ow is it Rome indeed and room enough, 

When there is in it but one only man. 

0, you and I have heard our fathers say, 

There was a Brutus once that would have brooked 

The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome 160 

As easily as a king. 

Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous ; 
What you would work me to, I have some aim : 
How I have thought of this and of these times, 
I shall recount hereafter ; for this present, 165 

I would not, so with love I might entreat you, 
Be any further moved. What you have said 
I will consider ; Avhat you have to say 
I will with patience hear, and find a time 
Both meet to hear and answer such high things. 170 

Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this : 
Brutus had rather be a villager 
Than to repute himself a son of Rome 



12 JULIUS CESAR. 

Under these hard conditions as this time 

Is like to lay upon us. 175 

Cas. T am giad that my weak words 
Have struck but tiuis much show of fire from Brutus. 

Bru. The games are done and Csesar is returning. 

Cas. A s they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve ; 
And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you 160 

What hath proceeded worthy note to-day. 

Re-enter Cesar and his Tt'ain. 

Bvu. I will do so. But, look you, Cassius, 
The angry spot doth glow on Caesar's brow, 
And all the rest look like a chidden train : 
Calpurnia's cheek is pale ; and Cicero 185 

Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes 
As we have seen him in the Capitol, 
Being crossed in conference by some senators. 

Cas. Casca will tell us what the matter is. 

Cms. Antonius ! 190 

Ant. Caesar ? 

Caes. Let me have men about me that are fat. 
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights : 
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look ; 
He thinks too much : such men are dangerous. 195 

Ant. Fear him not, Caesar ; he 's not dangerous ; 
He is a noble Roman and well given. 

CcBS. Would he were fatter ! But I fear him not : 
Yet if my name were liable to fear, 

I do not know the man I should avoid 200 

So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much ; 
He is a great observer, and he looks 
Quite through the deeds of men ; he loves no plays, 
As thou dost, Antony ; he hears no music ; 



ACT I. SCENE 11. 13 

Seldom he smiles, and smiles in snch a sort 205 

As if he mocked himself and scorned his spirit 

ThPct could be moved to smile at any thing. 

Such men as he be never at heart's ease 

Whiles they behold a greater than themselves, 

And therefore are they very dangerous. 210 

I rather tell thee what is to be feared 

Than what I fear ; for always I am Caesar. 

Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf, 

And tell me truly what thou think'st of him. 

\_Sennet. Exeunt Ccesai' and all,his Train but Casca. 

Casca. You pulled me by the cloak ; would you speak 
with me ? 

Bru. Ay, Casca ; tell us what hath chanced to-day, 
That Caesar looks so sad. 

Casca. _ Why, you were with him, were you not ? 218 

Bru. I should not then ask Casca what had chanced. 

CasciL,. . Why, there was a crown offered him : and be- 
ing offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand, 
thus ; and then the people fell a-shouting. 

Bra. What was the second noise for ? 

Casca. Why, for that too. 

Cas. They shouted thrice : what was the last cry for ? 

Casca. Why, for that too. 

Bru. Was the crown offered him thrice ? 

Casca. Ay, marry, was 't, and he put it by thrice, 
every time gentler than other ; and at every putting-by 
mine honest neighbors shouted. 230 

Cas. Who offered him the crown ? 

CasGa._ Why, Antony. 

Bru. Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca. 

Casca. I can as well be hanged as tell the manner of 



14 JULIUS CJESAR. 

it : it was mere foolery ; I did not mark it. I saw Mark 
Antony offer him a crown ; — yet 't was not a crown 
neither, 't was one of these coronets ; — and, as I told you, 
he put it by once : but, for all that, to my thinking, he 
would fain have had it. Then he offered it to him again ; 
then he put it by again : but, to my thinking, he was 
very loath to lay his fingers off it. And then he offered 
it the third time ; he put it the third time by : and still 
as he refused it, the rabblement shouted and clapped their 
chopt hands and threw up their sweaty nightcaps, and 
uttered such a deal of stinking breath because Caesar re- 
fused the crown, that it had almost choked Caesar ; for 
he s wounded and fell down at it : and for mine own part, 
I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips and receiv- 
ing the bad air. 249 

Cas. But, soft, I pray you : what, did Caesar swound ? 

Casca. He fell down in the market-place, and foamed 
at mouth, and was speechless. 

Brii. 'T is very like : he hath the falling-sickness. 

Cas. Ko, Caesar hath it not ; but you, and I, 
And honest Casca, we have the falling-sickness. 255 

Casca. I know not what you mean by that ; but, I 
am sure Caesar fell down. If the tag-rag people did not 
clap him and hiss him, according as he pleased and dis- 
pleased them, as they use to do the players in the theatre, 
I am no true man. 260 

Bru. What said he when he came unto himself ? 

Casca. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceived 
the common herd was glad he refused the crown, he 
plucked me ope his doublet and offered them his throat to 
cut. An I had been a man of any occupation, if I would 
not have taken him at a word, I would I might go to hell 



ACT I. SCENE II. 15 

among the rogues. And so he fell. When he came to 
himself again, he said, If he had done or said any thing 
amiss, he desired their worships to think it was his in- 
firmity. Three or four wenches, where I stood, cried, 
" Alas, good soul ! " and forgave him with all their hearts : 
but there 's no heed to be taken of them ; if Caesar had 
stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less. 273 

Bru. And after that, he came, thus sad, away ? 

Casca. Ay. 

Cas. Did Cicero say any thing? 

Casca. Ay, he spoke Greek. 

Cas. To what effect ? 278 

Casca. Nay, an I tell you that, I '11 ne'er look you i' 
the face again: but those that understood him smiled at 
one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own 
part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news 
too : MaruUus and Flavins, for pulling scarfs off Csesar's 
images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was 
more foolery yet, if I could remember it. 285 

Cas. Will you sup with me to-night, Casca ? 

Casca. No, I am promised forth. 

Cas. Will you dine with me to-morrow ? 

Casca. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and 
your dinner worth the eating. 290 

Cas. Good : I will expect you. 

Casca. Do so. Farewell, both. \_Exit. 

Bru. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be ! 
He was quick mettle when he went to school. 

Cas. So is he now in execution 295 

Of any bold or noble enterprise, 
However he puts on this tardy form. 
This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, 



16 JULIUS CAESAR. 

Which gives men stomach to digest his words 

With better appetite. 300 

Bynt. And so it is. For this time I will leave you: 
To-morrow, if yon please to speak with me, 
I will come home to you; or, if you will. 
Come home to me, and I will Avait for you. 

Cas. I will do so : till then, think of the world. 805 

\_Ex'it Brutus. 
Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see, 
Thy honorable metal may be wrought 
From that it is disposed : therefore it is meet 
That noble minds keep ever with their likes ; 
For who so firm that cannot be seduced ? 310 

Ctesar doth bear me hard ; but he loves Brutus : 
If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius, 
He should not humor me. I will this night. 
In several hands, in at his windows throw, 
As if they came from several citizens, 315 

Writings all tending to the great opinion 
That Borne holds of his name ; wherein obscurely 
Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at : 
And after this let Caesar seat him sure ; 319 

For we Avill shake him, or worse days endure. \_Exit. 

Scene III. The same. A street. 

Thunder and lirjhtning. Enter., from opposite sides, Casca, 
ivith his sword draivn, and Cicero. 

Cic. Good even, Casca : brought you Caesar home ? 
Why are you breathless ? and why stare you so ? 

Casca. Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth 
Shakes like a thing uniirm ? Cicero, 
I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds 5 



ACT I. SCENE III. 17 

Have rived tlie knotty oaks, and I have seen 

The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam, 

To be exalted with the threatening clouds : 

But nevar till to-night, never till now, 

Did I go through a tempest dropping fire. 10 

Either there is a civil strife in heaven, 

Or else the world, too saucy with the gods, 

Incenses them to send destruction. 

Cic. Why, saw you anything more wonderful ? 
Casca. A common slave — you know him well by sight — 

Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn 

Like twenty torches joined, and yet his hand, 

Not sensible of fire, remained unscorched. 

Besides — T ha' not since put up my sword — 
Against the Capitol I met a lion, 20 

Who glared upon me, and went surly by. 
Without annoying me : and there were drawn 

Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women^ 

Transformed with their fear, who swore they saw 

Men all in fire walk up and down the streets. 25 

And yesterday the bird of night did sit 

Even at noon-day upon the market place. 

Hooting and shrieking. When those prodigies 

Do so conjointly meet, let not men say, 

" These are their reasons ; they are natural ; " 30 

For, I believe, they are portentous things 

Unto the climate that they point upon. 

Cic. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time : 
But men may construe things after their fashion, 
Clean from the purpose of the things themselves. 35 

Comes Caesar to the Capitol to-morrow ? 

Casca. He doth ; for he did bid Antonius 
Send word to you he would be there to-morrow. 



18 JULIUS CJESAR. 

Cic. Good night, then, Casca : this disturbed sky 
Is not to walk in. 

Casca. Farewell, Cicero. \_Exit Cicero. 40 

Enter Cassius. 

Cas. Who 's there ? 

Casca. A E-oman. 

Cas. Casca, by your voice. 

Casca. Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this ! 

Cas. A very pleasing night to honest men. 

Casca. Who ever knew the heavens menace so ? 

Cas. Those that have known the earth so full of faults. 
For my part, I have walked about the streets, 
Submitting me unto the perilous night. 
And thus unbraced, Casca, as you see, 
Have bai-ed my bosom to the thunder-stone ; 
And when the cross blue lightning seemed to open 50 
The breast of heaven, I did present myself 
Even in the aim and very flash of it. [heavens ? 

Casca. But wherefore did you so much tempt the 
It is the part of men to fear and tremble, 
When the most mighty gods by tokens send 55 

Such dreadful heralds to astonish us. 

Cas. You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life 
That should be in a Roman you do want, 
Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze 
And put on fear and cast yourself in wonder, 70 

To see the strange impatience of the heavens : 
But if you would consider the true cause 
Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts. 
Why birds and beasts from quality and kind, 
Why old men fool and children calculate, 65 

Why all these things change from their ordinance 



ACT L SCENE in. 19 

Their natures and preformed faculties, 

To monstrous quality, why, you shall find 

That heaven hath infused them with these spirits, 

To make them instruments of fear and warning 70 

Unto some monstrous state. 

Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man 

Most like this dreadful night, 

That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars 

As (loth the lion in the Capitol ; 75 

A man no mightier than thyself or me 

In personal action, yet prodigious grown 

And fearful, as these strange eruptions are. 

Casca. 'T is Csesar that you mean ; is it not, Cassius ? 

Cas. Let it be who it is : for E-omans now 80 

Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors ; 
But, woe the while ! our fathers' minds are dead, 
And we are governed with our mothers' spirits ; 
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish. 

Casca. Indeed, they say the senators to-morrow 85 
Mean to establish Csesar as a king ; 
And he shall wear his crown by sea and land, 
In every place save here in Italy. 

Cas. I know where I will wear this dagger then ; 
Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius : 90 

Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong ; 
Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat : 
Ko stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, 
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, 
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit ; 95 

But life, being weary of these worldly bars. 
Never lacks power to dismiss itself. 
If I know this, know all the world besides, 



20 JULIUS C^SAR. 

That part of tyranny that I do bear 

I can shake off at pleasure. [Thunder still. 

Casca. So can I : lOO 

So every bondman in his own hand bears 
The power to cancel his captivity. 

Cas. And why should Caesar be a tyrant then ? 
Poor man ! T know he would not be a wolf, 
But that he sees the Romans are but sheep : 105 

He were no lion, were not Romans hinds. 

Those that with haste will make a mighty fire m 

Begin it with weak straws : what trash is Rome, 
What rubbish and what offal, when it serves 
For the base matter to illuminate 110 

So vile a thing as Caesar ! But, grief. 
Where hast thou led me ? I perhaps speak this 
Before a willing bondman ; then I know 
My answer must be made. But I am armed. 
And dangers are to me indifferent. 115 a 

Casca. You speak to Casca, and to such a man 
That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand : 
Be factious for redress of all these griefs, 
And I will set this foot of mine as far 
As who goes farthest. 

Cas. There 's a bargain made. 120 

Now know you, Casca, I have moved already 
Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans 
To undergo with me an enterprise 
Of honorable-dangerous consequence ; 
And I do know, by this they stay for me 125 

In Pompey's porch : for now, this fearful night, 
There is no stir or walking in the streets ; 
And the complexion of the element 



ACT I. SCENE TIL 21 

In favor 's like the work we have in hand, 
Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible. 130 

Enter Cinna. 

Casca. Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste. 

Cas. 'T is Cinna; I do know him by his gait; 
He is a friend. Cinna, where haste yon so ? 

Cin. To find out yon. Who's that? Metellns Cimber ? 

Cas. No, it is Casca; one incorporate i:]5 

To our attempts. Am I not. stayed for, Cinna ? 

Cin. I am glad on 't. What a fearful night is this ! 
There 's two or three of us have seen strange sights. 

Cas. Am I not stayed for ? tell me. 

Cm. Yes, you are. 

Cassius, if you could 140 

But win the noble Brutus to our party — 

Cas. Be you content : good Cinna, take this paper, 
And look you lay it in the praetor's chair, 
Where Brutus may but find it ; and throw this 
In at his window; set this up with wax 145 

Upon old Brutus' statue ; all this done, 
Kepair to Pompey's porch, where yon shall find ns. 
Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there ? 

Cin. All but Metellns Cimber; and he 's gone 
To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie, 150 

And so bestow these papers as you bade me. 

Cas. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre. \_Exit 
Gome, Casca, you and I will yet ere day Cinna. 

See Brutus at his house: three parts of him 
Is ours already, and the man entire 155 

Upon the next encounter yields him ours. 

Casca. 0, he sits high in all the people's hearts : 
And that which would appear offence in us 



22 JULIUS C^SAR. 

His countenance, like richest alchemy, 

Will change to virtue and to worthiness. 160 

Cas. Him and his worth and our great need of him 
You have right Avell conceited. Let ns go, 
For it is after midnight ; and ere day 
We will awake him and be sure of him. \_Exeunt. 

ACT II. 
Scene I. Rome., Brutus^ orchard. 
Enter Brutus. 

Bru. What, Lucius, ho ! 
I cannot, by the progress of the stars, 
Grive guess how near to day. Lucius, I say ! 
I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly. 
When, Lucius, when ? awake, I say ! what, Lucius I .5 

Enter Lucius. 

Luc. Called you, my lord ? 

Bru. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius : 
When it is lighted, come and call me here. 

Luc. I will, my lord. \_Exit. 

Bru. It must be by his death : and for my part, 10 
I know no personal cause to spurn at him, 
But for the general. He would be crowned : 
How that might change his nature, there 's the question. 
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder ; 
And that craves wary walking. Crown him ? — tlmt ; — \') 
And then, I grant, we put a sting in him. 
That at his will he may do danger with. 
The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins 
Remorse from power : and, to speak truth of Caesar, 
I have not known when his affections swayed 20 



ACT TL SCEXE I. 23 

More than his reason. But 't is a common proof, 

That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, 

Whereto the climber-upward turns his face ; 

But Avhen he once attains the utmost round, 

He then unto the ladder turns his back, 2") 

Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees 

By which he did ascend : so Caesar may ; 

Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel 

Will bear no color for the thing he is, 

Fashion it thus ; that what he is, augmented, :',() 

Would run to these and these extremities : 

And therefore think him as a serpent's Qg^ 

Which, hatched, would, as his kind, grow mischievous. 

And kill him in the shell. 

Re-ente7' Lucius. 

Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, sir. 35 

Searching the window for a flint, I found 
This paper thus sealed up, and I am sure 
It did not lie there when I went to bed. 

\_Gives hwi the letter. 

Bru. Get you to bed again; it is not day. 
Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March ? 40 

Luc. I know not, sir. 

Bru. Look in the calendar, and bring me word. 

Luc. I will, sir. \_Lxit. 

Bru. The exhalations whizzing in the air 
Give so much light that I may read by them. 45 

\^Oj?ens.the letter and reads. 
" Brutus, thou sleep'st : awake, and see thyself. 
Shall Rome, etc. Speak, strike, redress ! 
Brutus, thou sleep'st : awake ! '^ 



24 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Such instigations have been often dropped 

Where I have took them up. 50 

" Shall Rome, etc." Thus must I piece it out : 

Shall Rome stand under one man's awe ? What, Rome ? 

My ancestors did from the streets of Rome 

The Tarquin drive, when he was called a king. 

" Speak, strike, redress ! " Am I entreated 'm 

To speak and strike ? Rome, I make thee promise ; 

If the redress will follow, thou receivest 

Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus ! 

Re-enter Lucius. 
Luc. Sir, March is wasted fifteen days. 

[^Knocking within. 
Bru. 'T is good. G-o to the gate ; somebody knocks. 60 

[^Exit Lucius. 
Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar, 
I have not slept. 

Between the acting of a dreadful thing 
And the first motion, all the interim is 
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream : 65 

The genius and the mortal instruments 
Are then in council ; and the state of man, 
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then 
The nature of an insurrection. 

Re-enter Lucius. 

Luc. Sir, 't is your brother Cassius at the door, 70 
Who doth desire to see you. 

Bru. Is he alone ? 

Luc. No, sir, there are moe with him. 

Bru. Do you know them ? 

Luc. No, sir ; their hats are plucked about their ears, 



ACT 11. SCENE I. 25 

And half their faces buried in their cloaks, 

That by no means I may discover them 75 

By any mark of favor, 

Bru. Let 'em enter. [Exit Lucius. 

They are the faction. conspiracy, 
Shamest thou to show thy dangerous brow by night, 
When evils are most free ? 0, then, by day 
Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough 80 

To mask thy monstrous visage ? Seek none, conspiracy ; 
Hide it in smiles and affability : 
■For if thou path, thy native semblance on, 
Not Erebus itself were dim enough 
To hide thee from prevention. 85 

Enter the Conspirators, Casstus, Casca, Decius, Cinna, 
Metellus Cimber, and Treboxius. 

Cas. I think w^e are too bold upon your rest : 
Good morrow, Brutus ; do we trouble you ? 

Byni. I have been up this hour, awake all night. 
Know I these men that come along with you ? 

Cas. Yes, every man of them : and no man here 90 
But honors you ; and every one doth wish 
You had but that opinion of yourself 
Which every noble Eoman bears of you. 
This is Trebonius. 

Bru. • He is welcome hither. 

Cas. This, Decius Brutus. 

Bru. He is welcome too. 05 

Cas. This, Casca; this, Cinna; and this, MeteJlus 
Cimber. 

Bru. They are all welcome. 
What watchful cares do interpose themselves 
Betwixt your eyes and night ? 



26 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Cas. Shall I entreat a word ? 100 

[^Brutus and Cassius ivhispe?: 

Dec. Here lies the east : doth not the day break here ? 

Casca. No. 

Cin. 0, pardon, sir, it doth ; and yon gray lines 
That fret the clouds are messengers of day. 

Casca. You shall confess that you are both deceived. 
Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises. 
Which is a great way growing on the south. 
Weighing the youthful season of the year. 
Some two months hence up higher toward the north 
He first presents his fire ; and the high east 110 

Stands, as the Capitol, directly here. 

Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one. 

Cas. And let us swear our resolution. 

Bru. No, not an oath : if not the face of men, 
The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse, — 115 

If these be motives weak, break off betimes, 
And every man hence to his idle bed 5 
So let high-sighted tyranny range on, 
Till each man drop by lottery. But if these. 
As I am sure they do, bear fire enough 120 

To kindle cowards and to steel with valor 
The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen, 
What need we any spur but our own cause. 
To prick us to redress ? what other bond 
Than secret Eomans, that have spoke the word, 125 

And will not palter ? and what other oath 
Than honesty to honesty engaged, 
That this shall be, or we will fall for it ? 
Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous, 
Old feeble carrions and such suffering souls 130 



ACT IL SCENE I. 27 

That welcome wrongs ; unto bad causes swear 

Sucli creatures as men doubt ; but do not stain 

The even virtue of our enterprise, 

Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits. 

To think that or our cause or our performance 135 

Did need an oath ; when every drop of blood 

That every Eoman bears, and nobly bears, 

Is guilty of a several bastardy. 

If he do break the smallest particle 

Of any promise that hath passed from him. 140 

Cas. But what of Cicero ? shall we sound him ? 
I think he will stand very strong with us. 

C asca . Let us not leave him out. 

Cm. No, by no means. 

Met. 0, let us have him, for his silver hairs 
Will purchase us a good opinion, 145 

And buy men's voices to commend our deeds : 
It shall be said, his judgment ruled our hands ; 
Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear. 
But all be buried in his gravity. 

Bru. 0, name him not : let us not break with him, 
For he will never follow any thing 151 

That other men begin. 

Cas. Then leave him out. 

Casca. Indeed he is not fit. 

Dec. Shall no man else be touched but only Caesar ? 

Cas. Decius, well urged : I think it is not meet, 155 
Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar, 
Should outlive Caesar: Ave shall find of him 
A shrewd contriver ; and, you know, his means, 
If he improve them, may well stretch so far 
As to annoy us all : which to prevent, 160 

Let Antony and Caesar fall together. 



28 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Brii. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, 
To cut the head oft' and then hack the limbs, 
Like wrath in death and envy afterwards ; 
For Antony is but a limb of Caesar ; 105 

Let us be sacriiicers, but not butchers, Caius. 
We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar ; 
And in the spirit of men there is no blood : 
0, that we then could come by Csesar's spirit. 
And not dismember Caesar ! But, alas, 170 

Caesar must bleed for it ! And, gentle friends. 
Let 's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully ; 
Let 's carve him as a dish fit for the gods, 
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds : 
And let our hearts, as subtle masters do, 175 

Stir up their servants to an act of rage. 
And after seem to chide 'em. This shall make 
Our purpose necessary and not envious : 
Which so appearing to the common eyes, 
We shall be called purgers, not murderers. 180 

And for IMark Antony, think not of him ; 
For he can do no more than Caesar's arm 
When Caesar's head is off. 

Cas. Yet I fear him ; 

For in the ingrafted love he bears to Caesar — 

Bru. Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him : 185 
If he love Caesar, all that he can do 
Is to himself, take thought and die for Caesar : 
And that were much he should ; for he is given 
To sports, to wildness and much company. 

Treh. There is no fear in him ; let him not die ; 190 
For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter. [ Clock strikes. 

Bru. Peace ! count the clock. 



i 



ACT 11. SCENE I. 29 

Cas. The clock hath stricken three. 

Treb. 'T is time to part. 

Cas. But it is doubtful yet, 

Whether Caesar will come forth to-day, or no ; 
For he is superstitious grown of late, 195 

Quite from the main opinion he held once 
Of fantasy, of dreams and ceremonies : 
It may be, these apparent prodigies. 
The unaccustomed terror of this night. 
And the persuasion of his augurers, 200 

May hold him from the Capitol to-day. 

Dec. Kever fear that ; if he be so resolved, 
I can o'ersway him ; for he loves to hear 
That unicorns may be betrayed with trees. 
And bears with glasses, elephants with holes, 205 

Lions with toils, and men with flatterers ; 
But Avhen I tell him he hates flatterers. 
He says he does, being then most flattered. 
Let me work ; 

For I can give his humor the true bent, 210 

And I will bring him to the Capitol. 

Cas. Kay, we will all of us be there to fetch him. 

Bru. By the eighth hour : is that the uttermost ? 

Cin. Be that the uttermost, and fail not then. 

Met. Caius Ligarius doth bear Caesar hard, 215 

Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey : 
I wonder none of you have thought of him. 

Bru. Now, good Metellus, go along by him : 
He loves me well, and I have given him reasons ; 
Send him but hither, and I '11 fashion him. [Brutus. 

Cas. The morning comes upon 's: we '11 leave you, 
And, friends, disperse yourselves ; but all remember 
What you have said, and show yourselves true E-omans. 



30 JULIUS CESAR. 

Bru. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily ; 
Let not our looks put on our purposes, 225 

But bear it as our Roman actors do. 
With untired spirits and formal constancy : 
And so good morrow to you every one. 

\_Exeunt all hut Brutus. 
Boy ! Lucius ! East asleep ? It is no matter ; 
Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber : 230 

Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies, 
Which busy care draws in the brains of men ; 
Therefore thou sleep'st so sound. 

Enter Portia. 

Por. Brutus, my lord ! 

Bi^u. Portia, what mean you ? wherefore rise you 
now ? 
It is not for your health thus to commit 235 

Your weak condition to the raw cold morning. 

Por. ]^or for yours neither. You 've ungently, Brutus, 
Stole from my bed : and yesternight, at supper. 
You suddenly arose, and walked about, 
Musing and sighing, with your arms across ; 240 

And when I asked you what the matter was, 
You stared ujoon me with ungentle looks ; 
I urged you further ; then you scratched your head. 
And too impatiently stamped with your foot ; 
Yet I insisted, yet you answered not, 245 

But, with an angry wafture of your hand. 
Gave sign for me to leave you: so I did, 
Fearing to strengthen that impatience 
Which seemed too much enkindled, and withal 
Hoping it was but an effect of humor, 250 

Which sometime hath his hour with every man. 



ACT II. SCENE I. 31 

It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep, 

And could it work so mucli upon your shape 

As it hath much prevailed on your condition, 

I should not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord, 255 

Make me acquainted with your cause of grief. 

Bru. I am not well in health, and that is all. 

For. Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health, 
He would embrace the means to come by it. 

Br'u. Why, so I do. Good Portia, go to bed. 260 

Por. Is Brutus sick ? and is it physical 
To walk unbraced and suck up the humors 
Of the dank morning ? What, is Brutus sick, 
And will he steal out of his. wholesome bed. 
To dare the wild contagion of the night 265 

And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air 
To add unto his sickness ? No, my Brutus ; 
You have some sick offence within your mind, 
Which, by the right and virtue of my place, 
I ought to know of : and, upon my knees, 270 

I charm you, by my once commended beauty, 
By all your vows of love and that great vow 
Which did incorporate and make us one. 
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half, 
Why you are heavy, and what men to-night 275 

Have had resort to you : for here have been 
Some six or seven, who did hide their faces 
Even from darkness. 

Bru. Kneel not, gentle Portia. 

Pot. I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus. 
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, 280 

Is it excepted I should know no secrets 
That appertain to you ? Am I yourself 



32 JULIUS C^SAR. 

But, as it were, in sort or limitation, 

To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed, 

And talk to you sometimes ? Dwell I but in the suburbs 

Of your good pleasure ? If it be no more, 285 

Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife. 

Bru. You are my true and honorable wife. 
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops 
That visit my sad heart. 290 

Por. If this were true, then should I know this secret. 
I grant I am a woman ; but withal 
A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife : 
I grant I am a woman ; but withal 

A woman well-reputed, Cato's daughter. 295 

Think you I am no stronger than my sex, 
Being so fathered and so husbanded ? 
Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em : 
I have made strong proof of my constancy, 
Giving myself a voluntary wound 300 

Here in the thigh : can I bear that with patience, 
And not my husband's secrets ? 

Bru. ye gods, 

Bender me worthy of this noble wife ! [^Knocking within. 
Hark, hark ! one knocks : Portia, go in awhile ; 
And by and by thy bosom shall partake 305 

The secrets of my heart : 
All my engagements I will construe to thee, 
All the charactery of my sad broAvs : [knocks ? 

Leave me with haste. \_Exit Portia.'] Lucius, who 's that 

Re-enter Lucius ivith Ligarius. 
Luc. Here is a sick man that would speak with you. 
Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of. 311 

Boy, stand aside. Caius Ligarius ! how ? 



ACT 11. SCENE 11. 33 

Lig. Vouchsafe good morrow from a feeble tongue. 

Bru. 0, what a time have you chose out, brave Caius, 
To wear a kerchief ! Would you were not sick ! 315 

Lig. I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand 
Any exploit worthy the name of honor. 

Bru. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius, 
Had you a healthful ear to hear of it. 

Lig. By all the gods that Komans bow before, 320 
I here discard my sickness ! Soul of Eome ! 
Brave son, derived from honorable loins ! 
Thou, like an exorcist, has conjured up 
My mortified spirit. ISTow bid me run. 
And I will strive with things impossible ; 325 

Yea, get the better of them. What 's to do ? 

Bru. A piece of work that would make sick men whole. 

Lig. But are not some whole that we must make sick ? 

Bru. That must we also. What it is, my Caius, 
I shall unfold to thee, as we are going 330 

To whom it must be done. 

Lig. Set on your foot. 

And with a heart new-fired I follow you. 
To do I know not what : but it sufficeth 
That Brutus leads me on. 

Bru. Follow me, then. [^Exeunt. 

Scene II. Ccssar^s House. 
Thunder and lightning. Enter C^sar, in his night-gown. 
Cces. Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to- 
night : 
Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out, 
*^Help, ho ! they murder Caesar ! " Who 's within ? 

Enter a Servant. 
Serv. My lord ? 



34 JULIUS CyESAR. 

Cces. Go bid tlie priests do present sacrifice, 5 

And bring me tlieir opinions of success. 

Serv. I will, my lord. [^^xit. 

Enter Calpurnia. 

Cat. What mean you, Csesar ? think you to walk forth ? 
You shall not stir out of your house to-day. 

Cms. Caesar shall forth : the things that threatened me 
Ne'er looked but on my back ; Avhen they shall see 11 
The face of Caesar, they are vanished. 

Cal. Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies, 
Yet now they fright me. There is one within. 
Besides the things that we have heard and seen, 15 

Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. 
A lioness hath whelped in the streets ; 
And graves have yawned, and yielded up their dead ; 
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds. 
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war, 20 

Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol ; 
The noise of battle hurtled in the air. 
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan. 
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets. 
Caesar ! these things are beyond all use, 25 

And I do fear them. 

Cces. What can be avoided 

Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods ? 
Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions 
Are to the world in general as to Caesar. 

Cal. When beggars die, there are no comets seen ; 30 
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. 

Cces. Cowards die many times before their deaths ; 
The valiant never taste of death but once. 
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, 



ACT IT. SCENE 11. 35 

It seems to me most strange that men should fear ; 35 
Seeing that death, a necessary end, 
Will come when it will come. 

Re-enter Servant. 

What say the augurers ? 

Serii. They would not have you to stir forth to-day. 
Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, 
They could not find a heart within the beast. 40 

Cces. The gods do this in shame of cowardice : 
Caesar should be a beast without a heart, 
If he should stay at home to-day for fear. 
No, Caesar shall not : danger knows full well 
That Caesar is more dangerous than he : 45 

We are two lions littered in one day. 
And I the elder and more terrible : 
And Caesar shall go forth. 

Cal. Alas, my lord, 

Your wisdom is consumed in confidence. 
Do not go forth to-day : call it my fear 50 

That keeps you in the house, and not your own. 
We ^11 send Mark Antony to the senate-house ; 
And he shall say you are not well to-day : 
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this. 

C(Es. Mark Antony shall say I am not well, 55 

And, for thy humor, I will stay at home. 

Enter Decius. 

Here ^s Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so. 

Dec. Caesar, all hail ! good morrow, worthy Caesar : 
I come to fetch you to the senate-house. 

Cces. And jou are come in very happy time, 00 

To bear my greeting to the senators 



36 JULIUS G^SAR. 

And tell them that I will not come to-day : 
Cannot, is false, and that I dare not, falser : 
I will not come to-day : tell them so, Decius. 

Cal. Say he is sick. 

Ccps. Shall Caesar send a lie ? 65 

Have I in conquest stretched mine arm so far. 
To be afeared to tell graybeards the truth ? 
Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come. 

Dec. Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause, 
Lest I be laughed at when I tell them so. 70 

Cces. The cause is in my will : I will not come ; 
That is enough to satisfy the senate. 
But for jT-our private satisfaction. 
Because I love you, I will let you know : 
Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home : 75 

She dreamt to-night she saw my statue. 
Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts, 
Did run pure blood ; and many lusty E-omans 
Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it : 
And these does she apply for warnings, and portents, 80 
And evils imminent; and on her knee 
Hath begged that I will stay at home to-day. 

Dec. This dream is all amiss interpreted ; 
It was a vision fair and fortunate : 

Your statue spouting blood in many pipes, 85 

In which so many smiling Romans bathed, 
Signifies that from you great Eome shall suck 
Reviving blood, and that great men shall press 
For tinctures, stains, relics and cognizance. 
This by Calpurnia's dream is signified. 90 

Cms. And this way have you well expounded it. 
Dec. I have, when you have heard what I can say : 



ACT 11. SCENE 11. 37 

And know it now : the senate have concluded 

To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar. 

If you shall send them Avord you will not come, 95 

Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock 

Apt to be rendered, for some one to say, 

" Break up the senate till another time, 

When Ceesar's wife shall meet with better dreams." 

If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper, 100 

" Lo, Caesar is afraid ! " 

Pardon me, Caesar ; for my dear dear love 

To your proceeding bids me tell you this. 

And reason to my love is liable. 

Cces. How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia ! 
I am ashamed I did yield to them. 
Give me my robe, for I will go. 

Enter Publius, Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, 

Trebonius, and Cinna. 
And look where Publius is come to fetch me. 

Fuh. Good morrow, Caesar. 

Cces. Welcome, Publius. 

What, Brutus, are you stirred so early too ? 110 

Good morrow, Casca. Caius Ligarius, 
Caesar was ne'er so much your enemy 
As that same ague which hath made you lean. 
AVhat is 't o'clock ? 

Bru. Caesar, 't is strucken eight. 

Cces. I thank you for your pains and courtesy. 115 

Enter Antony. 
See ! Antony, that revels long o' nights. 
Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony. 
Ant. So to most noble Caesar. 



38 JULIUS C^SAR. 

CcBS. Bid them prepare within : 

I am to blame to be thus waited for. 
jSTow, Cinna : now, Metellus : what, Trebonius ! 120 

I have an hour's talk in store for you ; 
Remember that you call on me to-day : 
Be near me, that I may remember you. 

Treh. Caesar, I will : [_Aside] and so near will I be, 
That your best friends shall wish I had been further. 125 

CcBs. Good friends, go in, and taste some wine with 
me ; 
And we, like friends, will straightway go together. 

Bru. \_Aside'\ That every like is not the same, 
Caesar, 
The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon ! [£Jxeiint. 

ScEXE III. A street near the Capitol. 

Enter Artemidorus, reading a paper. 

Art. " Csesar, beware of Brutus ; take heed of Cas- 
sius ; come not near Casca ; have an eye to Cinna ; trust 
not Trebonius ; mark well Metellus Cimber : Decius 
Brutus loves thee not : thou hast wronged Caius Ligarius. 
There is but one mind in all these men, and it is bent 
against Csesar. If thou beest not immortal, look about 
you : security gives way to conspiracy. The mighty gods 
defend thee ! Thy lover Artemidorus." 
Here will I stand till Caesar pass along, 
And as a suitor will I give him this. 10 

My heart laments that virtue cannot live 
Out of the teeth of emulation. 
If thou read this, Caesar, thou mayst live ; 
If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive. \_Exit. 



ACT IT. SCENE IV. 39 

Scene TV. Another part of the same street, before the 
house of Brutus. 

Enter Portia and Lucius. 

Por. I prithee, boy, run to the senate-house ; 
Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone : 
Why dost thou stay ? 

Luc. To know my errand, madam. 

Por. I would have had thee there, and here again, 
Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there. .5 

constancy, be strong upon my side, 

Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue ! 

1 have a man's mind, but a woman's might. 
How hard it is for women to keep counsel ! 
Art thou here yet ? 

Luc. Madam, what should I do ? 10 

E-un to the Capitol, and nothing else ? 
And so return to you, and nothing else ? 

Por. Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well. 
For he went sickly forth: and take good note 
What Caesar doth, wliat suitors press to him. 15 

Hark, boy ! what noise is that ? 

Luc. I hear none, madam. 

Por. Prithee, listen well ; 

I heard a bustling rumor, like a fray, 
And the wind brings it from the Capitol. 

Luc. Sooth, madam, I hear nothing. 

Enter the Soothsayer. 
Por. Come hither, fellow : 20 

Which way hast thou been ? 

Sooth. At mine own house, good lady. 

Por. What is 't o'clock ? 



40 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Sooth. About the ninth hour, lady. 

For'. Is Caesar yet gone to the Capitol ? 

Sooth. Madam, not yet : I go to take my stand, 
To see him pass on to the Capitol. 25 

Por. Thou hast some suit to Csesar, hast thou not ? 

Sooth. That I have, lady : if it will please Csesar 
To be so good to Caesar as to hear me, 
I shall beseech him to befriend himself. 

Por. Why, know'st thou any harm 's intended towards 
him ? 30 

Sooth. None that I know will be, much that I fear may 
chance. 
Good morrow to you. Here the street is narrow : 
The throng that follow Caesar at the heels, 
Of senators, of praetors, common suitors, 
Will crowd a feeble man almost to death : 35 

I '11 get me to a place more void, and there 
Speak to great Caesar as he comes along. \_Exit. 

Por. I must go in. Ay me, how weak a thing 
The heart of woman is ! Brutus, 

The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise ! 40 

Sure, the boy heard me : Brutus hath a suit 
That Caesar will not grant. 0, I grow faint. 
Kun, Lucius, and commend me to my lord ; 
Say I am merry: come to me again, 

And bring me word what he doth say to thee. 45 

\_Exeunt severally. 



ACT II L SCENE I. 41 



ACT III. 



Scene I. Rome. Before the Capitol ; the Senate sitting 

above. 

A crowd of people ; among them Artemidorus and the 

Soothsayer. Flourish. Enter C^sar, Brutus, Cas- 

sius, Casca, Decius, Metellus, Trebonius, Cinna, 

Antony, Lepidus, Popilius, Publius, and others. 

Coes. \_To the Soothsayer'] The ides of March are 
come. 

Sooth. Ay, CsBsar ; but not gone. 

Art. Hail, Caesar ! read this schedule. 

Dec. Trebonius doth desire you to o'er-read, 
At your best leisure, this his humble suit. 5 

Ai't. Caesar, read mine first ; for mine 's a suit 
That touches Csesar nearer : read it, great Csesar. 

Cms. What touches us ourself shall be last served. 

Art. Delay not, Caesar ; read it instantly. 

Cces. AVhat, is the fellow mad ? 

Pub. Sirrah, give place. 10 

Cas. What, urge you your petitions in the street ? 
Come to the Capitol. 

C^s AR goes up to the Senate-House, the rest following. 
Fop. I wish your enterprise to-day may thrive. 
Cas. What enterprise, Popilius ? 
Fop. Fare you well. 

\_Advances to Ccesav. 
Bru. What said Popilius Lena ? 15 

Cas. He wished to-day our enterprise might thrive. 
I fear our purpose is discovered 

Bru. Look, how he makes to Caesar : mark him. 

Cas. Casca, 

Be sudden, for we fear prevention. 



42 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Brutus, what shall be done ? If this be known, 20 

Cassius or Caesar never shall turn back. 
For I will slay myself. 

Bru. Cassius, be constant: 

Popilius Lena speaks not of our purposes ; 
For, look, he smiles, and Caesar doth not change. 

Cas. Trebonins knows his time ; for, look you, Bru- 
tus, 25 
He draws Mark Antony out of the way. 

\_Exeunt Antony and Trebonlus. 

Dec. Where is Metellus Cimber ? Let him go. 
And presently prefer his suit to Caesar. 

Bru. He is addressed : press near and second him. 

Cin. Casca, you are the first that rears your hand. 30 

Cats. Are we all ready ? What is now amiss 
That Caesar and his senate must redress ? 

Met. Most high, most mighty, and most puissant 
Caesar, 
Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat 
An humble heart : — \_Kneellng. 

Cces. I must prevent thee, Cimber. 3r 

These couchings and these lowly courtesies 
Might fire the blood of ordinary men. 
And turn pre-ordinance and first decree 
Into the law of children. Be not fond, 
To think that Caesar bears such rebel blood 40 

That will be thawed from the true quality 
With that which melteth fools ; I mean, sweet words. 
Low-crooked court'sies and base spaniel-fawning. 
Thy brother by decree is banished : 

If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him, 45 

I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. 



ACT III. SCENE I. 43 

Know, Cyesav cloth not wrong, nor without cause 
Will he be satisfied. 

Met. Is there no voice more worthy than my own, 
To sound more sweetly in great Csesar's ear 50 

For the repealing of my banished brother ? 

Bni. I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Caesar ; 
Desiring thee that Publius Cimber may 
Have an immediate freedom of repeal. 

Cces. What, Brutus ! 

Cas. Pardon, Csesar; Caesar, pardon: 55 

As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall. 
To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber. 

Cces. I could be well moved, if I were as you ; 
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me ; 
But I am constant as the northern star, 60 

Of whose true-fixed and resting quality 
There is no fellow in the firmament. 
The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks, 
They are all fire and every one doth shine ; 
But there 's but one in all doth hold his place : 65 

So in the world ; 't is furnished well Avith men. 
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive ; 
Yet in the number I do know but one 
That unassailable holds on his rank, 

Unshaked of motion : and that I am he, 70 

Let me a little show it, even in this ; 
That I was constant Cimber should be banished, 
And constant do remain to keep him so. 

Cin. Csesar, — 

Cces. Hence ! wilt thou lift up Olympus ? 

Dec. Great Csesar, — 

Cces. Doth not Brutus bootless kneel ? 75 



44 JULIUS CESAR. 

C asca. Speak, hands, for me ! 

\^Casca first, then the other conspirators and Marcus 
Brutus stab Ccesar. 

Cois. Et tu, Brute ! Then fall, Caesar ! [Dies. 

Cin. Liberty ! Freedom ! Tyranny is dead ! 
K-un hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets. 

Cas. Some to the common pulpits, and cry out 80 

" Liberty, freedom and enfranchisement ! " 

Bru. People and senators, be not affrighted ; 
Fly not ; stand still : ambition's debt is paid. 

Casca. GrO to the pulpit, Brutus. 

Dec. And Cassius too. 85 

Bru. Where 's Publius ? 

Cin. Here, quite confounded with this mutiny. 

Met. Stand fast together, lest some friend of Caesar's 
Should chance — 

Bru. Talk not of standing. Publius, good cheer ; 9U 
There is no harm intended to your person, 
Nor to no Roman else : so tell them, Publius. 

Cas. And leave us, Publius ; lest that the people, 
Rushing on us, should do your age some mischief. 

Bru. Do so : and let no man abide this deed, 95 

But we the doers. 

Re-enter TREBo:Nrius. 

Cas. Where is Antony ? 

Tre. Fled to his house amazed : 

Men, wives and children stare, cry out and run 
As it were doomsday. 

Bru. Fates, we will know your pleasures : 

That Ave shall die, we know ; 't is but the time 100 

And drawing days out, that men stand upon. 

Cas. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life 
Cuts off so many years of fearing death. 



ACT HI. SCENE I. 45 

Bru. Grant that, and then is death a benefit : 
So are we Caesar's friends, tliat have abridged 105 

His time of fearing death. Stoop, Romans, stoop. 
And let us bathe our hands in Caesar's blood 
Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords : 
Then walk we forth, even to the market-place. 
And, waving our red weapons o'er our heads, 110 

Let 's all cry " Peace, freedom and liberty ! " 

Cas. Stoop then, and wash. How many ages hence 
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over 
In states unborn and accents yet unknown ! 

Bru. How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport, 115 
That now on Pompey's basis lies along 
No worthier than the dust ! 

Cas. So oft as that shall be. 

So often shall the knot of us be called 

The men that gave their country liberty. 

Dec. "What, shall Ave forth ? 

Cas. Ay, every man away ; 120 

Brutus shall lead ; and we will grace his heels 

With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome. 

Enter a Servant. 

Bru. Soft ! who comes here ? A friend of Antony's. 

Serv. Thus, Brutus, did my master bid me kneel ; 
Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down ; 125 

And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say : 
Brutus is noble, wise, valiant and honest ; 
Caesar was mighty, bold, royal and loving : 
Say I love Brutus, and I honor him ; 

Say I feared Caesar, honored him and loved him. loO 

If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony 
May safely come to him, and be resolved 



4(5 JULIUS G^SAR. 

How Csesar hath deserved to lie in death, 

Mark Antony shall not love Caesar dead 

So well as Brutus living 5 but will follow 135 

The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus 

Thorough the hazards of this untrod state 

With all true faith. So says my master Antony. 

Bru. Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman ; 
T never thought him worse. 140 

Tell him, so please him come unto this place, 
He shall be satisfied, and, by my honor, 
Depart untouched. 

Serv. I '11 fetch him presently. [Exit. 

Bru. I know that we shall have him well to friend. 

Cas. I wish we may : but yet have I a mind 145 

That fears him much ; and my misgiving still 
Falls shrewdly to the purpose. 

Bru. But here comes Antony. 

Re-enter Antony. 

Welcome, Mark Antony. 
Ant. mighty Csesar ! dost thou lie so low ? 
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, 150 

Shrunk to this little measure ? Fare thee well. 
I know not, gentlemen, what you intend, 
Wlio else must be let blood, who else is rank : 
If I myself, there is no hour so fit 

As Caesar's death's hour, nor no instrument 155 

Of half that worth as those your swords, made rich 
With the most noble blood of all this world. 
I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard, 
Now. whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke, 
Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand years, 160 

I shall not find myself so apt to die : 



ACT III. SCENE I. 47 

No place will please me so, no mean of death, 
As here by Caesar, and by you cut off. 
The choice and master spirits of this age. 

Bru. Antony, beg not your death of us. 165 

Though now we must appear bloody and cruel, 
As, by our hands and this our present act. 
You see we do, yet see you but our hands 
And this the bleeding business they have done : 
Our hearts you see not ; they are pitiful ; 170 

And pity to the general wrong of Rome — 
As fire drives out fire, so pity pity — 
Hath done this deed on Csesar. For your part. 
To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony : 
Our arms in strength of malice, and our hearts 175 

Of brothers' temper, do receive you in 
With all kind love, good thoughts and reverence. 

Cas. Your voice shall be as strong as any man's 
In the disposing of new dignities. 

Bru. Only be patient till we have appeased 180 

The multitude, beside themselves with fear, 
And then we will deliver you the cause. 
Why I, that did love Caesar when I struck him. 
Have thus proceeded. 

Ant. I doubt not of your wisdom. 

Let each man render me his bloody hand : 185 

First, Marcus Brutus, will I shake with you ; 
Next, Caius Cassius, do I take your hand ; 
Now, Decius Brutus, yours ; now yours, Metellus ; 
Yours, Cinna ; and, my valiant Casca, yours ; 
Though last, not least in love, yours, good Trebonius. 190 
G-entlemen all, — alas, what shall I say ? 
My credit now stands on such slippery ground. 



48 JULIUS C^SAR. 

That one of two bad ways you must conceit me, 

Either a coward or a flatterer. 

That I did love thee, Csesar, 0, 't is true : 195 

If then thy spirit look upon us now, 

Shall it not grieve thee dearer than thy death, 

To see thy Antony making his peace. 

Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes, 

Most noble ! in the presence of thy corse ? 200 

Had I as many eyes as thou hast wounds. 

Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood, 

It would become me better than to close 

In terms of friendship with thine enemies. 

Pardon me, Julius ! Here wast thou bayed, brave hart ; 205 

Here didst thou fall, and here thy hunters stand. 

Signed in thy spoil, and crimsoned in thy lethe. 

world, thou wast the forest to this hart ; 

And this, indeed, world, the heart of thee. 

How like a deer strucken by many princes, 210 

Dost thou here lie ! 

Cas. Mark Antony, — 

Ant. Pardon me, Caius Cassius ; 

The enemies of Csesar shall say this ; 
Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty. 

Cas. I blame you not for praising Csesar so ; 215 

But what compact mean you to have with us ? 
Will you be pricked in number of our friends. 
Or shall we on, and not depend on you ? 

Ant. Therefore I took your hands, but was, indeed, 
Swayed from the point, by looking down on Csesar. 220 
Friends am I with you all and love you all. 
Upon this hope, that you shall give me reasons 
Why and wherein Csesar was dangerous. 



ACT III. SCENE I. 49 

Bru. Or else were this a savage spectacle : 
Our reasons are so full of good regard 225 

That were you, Antony, the son of Caesar, 
You should be satisfied. 

Ant. That's all I seek : 

And am moreover suitor that I may 
Produce his body to the market-place ; 
And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend, 230 

Speak in the order of his funeral. 

Bru. You shall, Mark Antony. 

Cas. Brutus, a word with you. 

[Aside to Brittus.~\ You know not what you do : do not 

consent 
That Antony speak in his funeral : 

Know you how much the people may be moved 235 

By that which he will utter ? 

Bru. By your pardon ; 

I will myself into the pulpit first. 
And show the reason of our Caesar's death : 
What Antony shall speak, I will protest 
He speaks by leave and by permission, 240 

And that we are contented Caesar shall 
Have all true rites and lawful ceremonies. 
It shall advantage more than do us wrong. 

Cas. I know not what may fall ; I like it not. 

Bru. Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar's body, 245 
You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, 
But speak all good you can devise of Caesar, 
And say you do 't by our permission ; 
Else shall you not have any hand at all 
About his funeral : and you shall s;peak 250 



50 JULIUS C^SAR. 

In the same pulpit whereto I am going, 
After my speech is ended. 

Ant. Be it so ; 

I do desire no more. 

Bru. Prepare the bod}^ then, and follow us. 

\_Exennt all hut Antony. 

Ant. 0, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, 255 
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers ! 
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man 
That ever lived in the tide of times. 
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood ! 
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy, — 260 

Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips. 
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue, — 
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men ; 
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife 

Shall cumber all the parts of Italy ; 265 

Blood and destruction shall be so in use. 
And dreadful objects so familiar. 
That mothers shall but smile Avhen they behold 
Their infants quartered with the hands of war ; 
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds : 270 

And Ctesar's spirit, ranging for revenge. 
With Ate by his side come hot from hell. 
Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice 
Cry " Havoc," and let slip the dogs of war ; 
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth 275 

With carrion men, groaning for burial. 

Enter a Servant. 

You serve Octavius Caesar, do you not ? 
Sei'v. I do, Mark Antony. 
A7it. Csesar did write for him to come to Rome. 



ACT III. SCENE 11. ^^ 

Sew. He did receive his letters, and is coming ; 280 
And bid me say to you by word of mouth — 
Csesar! — \_Seeing the body. 

Ant. Thy heart is big ; get thee apart and weep. 
Passion, I see, is catching ; for mine eyes. 
Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine, 285 

Began to water. Is thy master coming ? 

Sew. He lies to-night within seven leagues of Rome. 

Ant. Post back with speed, and tell him what hath 
chanced : 
Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome, 
1^0 Rome of safety for Octavius yet ; 290 

Hie hence, and tell him so. Yet, stay awhile ; 
Thou shalt not back till I have borne this corse 
Into the market-place : there shall I try. 
In my oration, how the people take 

The cruel issue of these bloody men ; 295 

According to the which, thou shalt discourse 
To young Octavius of the state of things. 
Lend me your hand. \_Exeunt with Ccesar^s hochj. 

Scene II. The Forum. 

Enter Brutus and Cassius, and a throng o/ Citizens. 

Citizens. We will be satisfied ; let us be satisfied. 

Bru. Then follow me, and give me audience, friends. 
Cassius, go you into the other street, 
And part the numbers. 

Those that will hear me speak, let 'em stay here ; 5 

Those that will follow Cassius, go with him ; 
And public reasons shall be rendered 
Of Caesar's death. 

First Cit. I will hear Brutus speak. 



52 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Sec. Cit. I will hear Cassius ; and compare their reasons, 
When severally we hear them rendered. 10 

\Exit Cassius, with some of the Citizens. Brutus 
goes into the pulpit. 

Third Cit. The noble Brutus is ascended : silence ! 

Bru. Be patient till the last. 
Romans, countrymen, and lovers ! hear me for my cause, 
and be silent that you may hear : believe me for mine 
honor, and have respect to mine honor, that you may be- 
lieve : censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, 
that you may the better judge. If there be any in this 
assembly, any dear friend of Csesar's, to him I say, that 
Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. If then that 
friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my 
answer: — Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved 
Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living and die 
all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free 
men ? As Caesar loved me, I weep for him ; as he was 
fortunate, I rejoice at it ; as he was valiant, I honor him : 
but as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears for 
his love ; joy for his fortune ; honor for his valor ; and 
death for his ambition. Who is here so base that would 
be a bondman ? If any, speak ; for him have I offended. 
Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman ? If any, 
speak ; for him have I offended. Who is here so vile 
that will not love his country ? If any, speak ; for him 
have I offended. I pause for a reply. 33 

All. None, Brutus, none. 

Bru. Then none have I offended. I have done no 
more to Caesar than you shall do to Brutus. The ques- 
tion of his death is enrolled in the Capitol ; his glory not 
extenuated, wherein he was worthy, nor his offences en- 
forced, for which he suffered death. 



ACT III. SCENE II. 53 

Enter Antony and others, with Cesar's body. 

Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony : who, 
though he had no hand in his death, shall receive the 
benefit of his dying, a place in the commonwealth ; as 
which of you shall not ? With this I depart, — that, as 
I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the 
same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country 
to need my death. 46 

All. Live, Brutus ! live, live ! 

First Cit. Bring him with triumph home unto his house. 

Sec. Cit. Give him a statue with his ancestors. 

Third Cit. Let him be Caesar. 

Fourth Cit. Caesar's better parts 50 

Shall be crowned in Brutus. 

First Cit. We '11 bring him to his house with shouts 
and clamors. 

Bru. My countrymen, — 

Sec. Cit. Peace, silence ! Brutus speaks. 

First Cit, Peace, ho ! 

Bru. Good countrymen, let me depart alone, 55 

And, for my sake, stay here with Antony : 
Do grace to Caesar's corpse, and grace his speech 
Tending to Caesar's glories ; which Mark Antony, 
By our permission, is allowed to make. 
I do entreat you, not a man depart, 60 

Save I alone, till Antony have spoke. \_Exit. 

First Cit. Stay, ho ! and let us hear Mark Antony. 

Third Cit. Let him go up into the public chair ; 
We '11 hear him. Noble Antony, go up. 

Ant. For Brutus' sake^ I am beholding to you. 65 

[ Goes into the 'pulpit. 

Fourth Cit. AVhat does he say of Brutus ? 



54 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Tlih'd Cit. He says, for Brutus" sake, 

He finds himself beholding to us all. 

Fourth Cit. 'T were best he speak no harm of Brutus 
here. 

First Cit. This Caesar was a tyrant. 

Third Cit. ^ay, that 's certain : 

We are blest that Bome is rid of him. 70 

Sec. Cit. Peace ! let us hear what Antony can say. 

Ant. You gentle Romans, — 

Citizens. Peace, ho ! let us hear him. 

Ant. Priends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears ; 
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 
The evil that men do lives after them; 75 

The good is oft interred with their bones ; 
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus 
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious : 
If it were so, it was a grievous fault. 
And grievously hath Caesar answered it. 80 

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest, — 
For Brutus is an honorable man ; 
So are they all, all honorable men, — 
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. 

He was my friend, faithful and just to me : 85 

But Brutus says he was ambitious ; 
And Brutus is an honorable man. 
He hath brought many captives home to Bome, 
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill : 
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious ? 90 

When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept : 
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff : 
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious ; 
And Brutus is an honorable man. 



ACT TIL SCENE IL 55 

You all did see that on the Lupercal 95 

I thrice presented him a kingly crown, 

Which he did thrice refuse : was this ambition ? 

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious ; 

And, sure, he is an honorable man. 

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, lOO 

But here I am to speak what I do know. 

You all did love him once, not without cause : 

What cause withholds you then to mourn for him ? 

judgment ! thou art fled to brutish beasts. 

And men have lost their reason. Bear with me ; 105 

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, 
And I must pause till it come back to me. 

First Clt. Methinks there is much reason in his sayings. 

Sec. Cit. If thou consider rightly of the matter, 
Caesar has had great wrong. 

Third Cit. Has he, masters ? 110 

1 fear there will a worse come in his place. 

Fourth Cit. Marked ye his words ? He would not 
take the crown ; 
Therefore 't is certain he was not ambitious. 

First Cit. If it be found so, some \v\\\ dear abide it. 
Sec. Cit. Poor soul ! his eyes are red as fire with 
weeping. 115 

Third Cit. There 's not a nobler man in Rome than 

Antony. 
Fourth Cit. Now mark him, he begins again to speak. 
Ant. But yesterday the word of Caesar might 
Have stood against the world ; now lies he there, 
And none so poor to do him reverence. 120 

masters, if I were disposed to stir 
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage. 



56 JULIUS C^SAR. 

4 

I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, 

Who, you all know, are honorable men : 

I will not do them wrong ; I rather choose 125 

To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you. 

Than I will wrong such honorable men. 

But here 's a parchment with the seal of Caesar ; 

I found it in his closet ; 't is his will : 

Let but the commons hear this testament — 130 

Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read — 

And they Avould go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds 

And dip their napkins in his sacred blood. 

Yea, beg a hair of him for memory. 

And, dying, mention it within their wills, 135 

Bequeathing it as a rich legacy 

Unto their issue. 

Fourth Cit. We '11 hear the will : read it, Mark Antony. 

All. The will ! the will ! we will hear Caesar's will. 

Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it ; 
It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. 141 

You are not wood, you are not stones, but men ; 
And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar, 
It will inflame you, it will make you mad : 
'T is good you know not that you are his heirs ; 145 

For, if you should, 0, what would come of it ! 

Fourth Cit. Bead the will ; we '11 hear it, Antony ; 
You shall read us the will, Caesar's will. 

Ant. Will you be patient ? will you stay awhile ? 
I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it : 150 

I fear I wrong the honorable men 
Whose daggers have stabbed Caesar ; I do fear it. 

Fourth Cit. They were traitors : honorable men ! 

All. The will ! the testament ! 



ACT III. SCENE II. 57 

Sec. Cit. They were villains, murderers : the will ! 
read the will. 156 

Ant. You will compel me. then, to read the will ? 
Then make a ring about the corpse of Caesar, 
And let me show you him that made the will. 
Shall I descend ? and will you give me leave ? 160 

All. Come down. 

Sec. Cit. Descend. \_He comes down from the j[>ulpit. 

Third Cit. You shall have leave. 

Fourth Cit. A ring ; stand round. 

First Cit. Stand from the hearse, stand from the body. 

Sec. Cit. Room for Antony, most noble Antony. 166 

Ant. Nay, press not so upon me ; stand far off. 

Several Cit. Stand back. Room ! Bear back. 

Ant. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. 
You all do know this mantle : I remember 170 

The first time ever Csesar put it on ; 
'T was on a summer's evening, in his tent. 
That day he overcame the Nervii : 
Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through : 
See what a rent the envious Casca made : 175 

Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabbed; 
And as he plucked his cursed steel away, 
Mark how the blood of Caesar followed it. 
As rushing out of doors, to be resolved 
If Brutus so unkindly knocked, or no ; 180 

For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel : 
Judge, you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him ! 
This was the most unkindest cut of all ; 
For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, 
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms, 185 

Quite vanquished him : then burst his mighty heart ; 



58 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Aiid, in his mantle muffling up his face, 
Even at the base of Pompey's statue, 
Which all the while ran blood, great Csesar fell. 
0, Avhat a fall was there, my countrymen ! 190 

Then I, and you, and all of us fell down. 
Whilst bloody treason flourished over us. 
O, now you Aveep, and I perceive you feel 
The dint of pity : these are gracious drops. 
Kind souls, what weep you when you but behold 195 

Our Caesar's vesture wounded ? Look you here, 
Here is himself, marred, as you see, with traitors. 
First Cit. piteous spectacle ! 
Sec. Cit. noble Caesar ! 

Third Cit. woful day ! 200 

Fourth Cit. traitors, villains ! 
First Cit. most bloody sight ! 
Sec. Cit. We will be revenged. 

All. Eevenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! 
Slay ! Let not a traitor live ! 205 

Ant. Stay, countrymen. 

First Cit. Peace there ! hear the noble Antony. 
Sec. Cit. We '11 hear him, Ave '11 follow him, we '11 die 
with him. 

Ant. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up 
To such a sudden flood of mutiny. 211 

They that have done this deed are honorable : 
What private griefs they have, alas, I know not, 
That made them do it : they are Avise and honorable, 
And will, no doubt, with reasons ansAver you. 215 

I come not, friends, to steal aAvay your hearts : 
I am no orator, as Brutus is ; 
But, as you knoAv me all, a plain blunt man, 



ACT in. SCENE 11. 59 

That love my friend ; and that they know full well 

That gave me public leave to speak of him : 220 

For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, 

Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech. 

To stir men's blood : I only speak right on ; 

I tell you that which you yourselves do know ; 

Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor, poor dumb mouths, 

And bid them speak for me : but were I Brutus, 22(5 

And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony 

Would ruffle up your spirits and put a tongue 

In every wound of Caesar that should move 

The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny. 230 

All. We '11 mutiny. 

First Cit. We '11 burn the house of Brutus. 

Third Cit. Away then ! come, seek the conspirators. 

A7it. Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak. 

All . Peace, ho ! Hear Antony. Most noble Antony ! 

Ant. Why, friends, you go to do you know not what : 
Wherein hath Caesar thus deserved your loves ? 237 

Alas, you know not : I must tell you then : 
YoLi have forgot the will I told you of. 

All. Most true : the will ! Let 's stay and hear the 
will. 240 

Ant. Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal. 
To every Koman citizen he gives. 
To every several man, seventy-five drachmas. 

Sec. Cit. Most noble Caesar ! We '11 revenge his death. 

Third Cit. royal Caesar ! 245 

' Ant. Hear me with patience. 

All. Peace, ho ! 

Ant. Moreover, he hath left you all his walks. 
His private arbors and new-planted orchards. 



60 JULIUS CjESAR. 

On this side Tiber ; he hath left them you, 250 

And to your heirs for ever ; common pleasures, 

To walk abroad and recreate yourselves. 

Here was a Csesar ! when comes such another ? 

First Cit. Never, never. Come, away, away ! 
We '11 burn his body in the holy place, 255 

And with the brands fire the traitors' houses. 
Take up the body. 

Sec. Cit. Gro fetch fire. 

Third Cit. Pluck down benches. 

Fourth Cit. Pluck down forms, windows, anything. 

\_Exeunt Citizens with the body. 

Ant. Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, 261 
Take thou what course thou wilt ! 

Enter a Servant. 

How now, fellow ! 
Serv. Sir, Octavius is already come to Pome. 
Ant. Where is he ? 

Serv. He and Lepidus are at Caesar's house. 265 

Ant. And thither will I straight to visit him : 
He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry, 
And in this mood will give us any thing. 

Serv. I heard him say, Brutus and Cassius 
Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome. 270 

Ant. Belike they had some notice of the people. 
How I had moved them. Bring me to Octavius. 

\_Exeunt. 
Scene III. A street. 

Enter Cinna the jpoet. 

Cin. I dreamt to-night that I did feast with Caesar, 
And things unlucky charge my fantasy : 



ACT III. SCENE III. 61 

I have no will to wander forth of doors, 
Yet something leads me forth. 

Enter Citizens. 

First Cit. What is your name ? 5 

Sec. Cit. Whither are you going ? 

Third Cit. Where do you dwell ? 

Fourth Cit. Are you a married man or a bachelor ? 

Sec. Cit. Answer every man directly. 

First Cit. Ay, and briefly. 10 

Fourth Cit. Ay, and wisely. 

Third Cit. Ay, and truly, you were best. 

Cin. What is my name ? Whither am I going ? 
Where do I dwell ? am I a married man or a bachelor ? 
Then, to answer every man directly and briefly, wisely 
and truly : wisely I say, I am a bachelor. 16 

Sec. Cit. That 's as much as to say, they are fools 
that marry : you '11 bear me a bang for that, I fear. Pro- 
ceed ; directly. 

Cin. Directly, I am going to Caesar's funeral. 20 

First Cit. As a friend or an enemy ? 

Cin. As a friend. 

Sec. Cit. That matter is answered directly. 

Fourth Cit. For your dwelling, briefly. 

Cin. Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol. 25 

Third Cit. Your name, sir, truly. 

Cin. Truly, my name is Cinna. 

First Cit. Tear him to pieces ; he 's a conspirator. 

Cin. I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet. 

Fourth Cit. Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for 
his bad verses. 31 

Cin. I am not Cinna the conspirator. 

Fourth Cit. It is no matter, his name 's Cinna; pluck 
but his name out of his heart, and turn him going. 



H2 JULIUS CjESAR. 

Third Cit. Tear him, tear him ! Come, brands, ho ! 
fire-brands : to Brutus', to Cassius' ; burn all : some to 
Decius' house, and some to Casca's ; some to Ligarius' ; 
away, go ! \_Exeunt. 

ACT IV. 

Scene I. A house in Rome. 

Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus, seated at a table. 

Ant. These many, then, shall die ; their names are 
pricked. 

Oct. Your brother too must die ;• consent you, Lepi- 
dus ? 

Lejy. I do consent — 

Oct. Prick him down, Antony. 

Lep. Upon condition Publius shall not live, 
Who is your sister's son, Mark Antony. 5 

A7it. He shall not live ; look, with a spot I damn him. 
But, Lepidus, go you to Caesar's house ; 
Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine 
How to cut off some charge in legacies. 

Lep. What, shall I find you here ? 10 

Oct. Or here, or at the Capitol. \_Exit Lepidus. 

Ant. This is a slight unmeritable man, 
Meet to be sent on errands : is it fit, 
The three-fold world divided, he should stand 
One of the three to share it ? 

Oct. So you thought him, 15 

And took his voice who should be pricked to die, 
In our black sentence and proscription. 

Ant. Octavius, I have seen more days than you : 
And though we lay these honors on this man. 
To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads, • 20 



ACT IV. SCENE I. 63 

He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold, 

To groan and sweat under the business, 

Either led or driven, as we point the way ; 

And having brought our treasure where we will, 

Then take we down his load and turn him off, 25 

Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears. 

And graze in commons. 

Oct. You may do your will ; 

But he 's a tried and valiant soldier. 

Ant. So is my horse, Octavius ; and for that 
I do appoint him store of provender : 30 

It is a creature that I teach to fight. 
To wind, to stop, to run directly on. 
His corporal motion governed by my spirit. 
And, in some taste, is Lepidus but so ; 
He must be taught, and trained, and bid go forth ; 35 

A barren-spirited fellow ; one that feeds 
On objects, arts and imitations. 
Which, out of use and staled by other men. 
Begin his fashion : do not talk of him. 
But as a property. And now, Octavius, 40 

Listen great things : Brutus and Cassius 
Are levying powers : we must straight make head : 
Therefore let our alliance be combined. 
Our best friends made, our means stretched ; 
And let us presently go sit in council, 45 

How covert matters may be best disclosed. 
And open perils surest answered. 

Oct. Let us do so : for we are at the stake. 
And bayed about with many enemies ; 
And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear, 50 

Millions of mischiefs. [_Exeunt. 



64 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Scene II. Caynp near Sardis. Before Brutus^s tent. 

Drum. Enter Brutus, Lucilius, Lucius, and Soldiers : 
TiTiNius and Pindarus 'meeting them. 

Bru. Stand, ho ! 

Lucil. Give the word, ho ! and stand. 

Bru. What now, Lncilius ! is Cassius near ? 

Lucil. He is at hand ; and Pindarus is come 
To do yon salutation from his master. 5 

Bru. He greets me well. Your master, Pindarus, 
In his own change, or by ill officers, 
Hath given me some worthy cause to wish 
Things done, undone ; but if he be at hand, 
I shall be satisfied. 

Pin. I do not doubt 10 

But that my noble master will appear 
Such as he is, full of regard and honor. 

Bru. He is not doubted. A word, Lucilius, 
How he received you : let me be resolved. 

Lucil. With courtesy and with respect enough ; 15 
But not with such familiar instances, 
[N'or with such free and friendly conference, 
As he hath used of old. 

Bru. Thou hast described 

A hot friend cooling : ever note, Lucilius, 
When love begins to sicken and decay, 20 

It useth an enforced ceremony. 
There are no tricks in plain and simple faith ; 
But hollow men, like horses hot at hand, 
Make gallant show and promise of their mettle ; 
But when they should endure the bloody spur, 25 

They fall their crests, and, like deceitful jades, 
Sink in the trial. Comes his army on ? 



ACT IV. SCENE 11. 65 

Lucil. They mean this night in Sarclis to be quartered ; 
The greater part, the horse in general, 
Are come with Cassins. \_Loiv march within. 

Brit. Hark ! he is arrived. 30 

March gently on to meet him. 

Enter C assius and his isomers. 

Cas. Stand, ho ! 

B7n(. Stand, ho ! Speak the word along. 

First Sol. Stand ! 

Sec. Sol. Stand ! 35 

Third Sol. Stand ! 

Cas. Most noble brother, you have done me wrong. 

Bru. Judge me, you gods ! wrong I mine enemies ? 
And, if not so, how should I wrong a brother ? 

Cas. Brutus, this sober form of yours hides wrongs ; 40 
And when you do them — 

Bru. Cassius, be content ; 

Speak your griefs softly : I do know you well. 
Before the eyes of both our armies here. 
Which should perceive nothing but love from us. 
Let us not wrangle : bid them move away ; 45 

Then in my tent, Cassius, enlarge your griefs, 
And I will give you audience. 

Cas. Pindarus, 

Bid our commanders lead the charges off 
A little from this ground. 

Bru. Lucilius, do you the like ; and let no man 50 
Come to our tent till we have done our conference. 
Let Lucius and Titinius guard our door. \_Exeu7it. 



66 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Scene III. Brutus' tent. 

Enter Brutus and Cassius. 

Cas. That you have wronged me doth appear in this •. 
You have condemned and noted Lucius Pella 
For taking bribes here of the Sardians ; 
Wherein my letters, praying on his side, 
Because I knew the man, were slighted off. 5 

Bru. You wronged yourself to write in such a case. . 

Cas. In such a time as this it is not meet 
That every nice offence should bear his comment. 

Bru. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself 
Are much condemned to have an itching palm, 10 

To sell and mart your offices for gold 
To undeservers. 

Cas. I an itching palm ! 

You know that you are Brutus that speaks this^, 
Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last. 

Bru. The name of Cassius honors this corruption, 15 
And chastisement doth therefore hide his head. 

Cas. Chastisement ! 

Bru. Remember March, the ides of March remember : 
Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake ? 
What villain touched his body, that did stab, 20 

And not for justice ? AVhat, shall one of us. 
That struck the foremost man of all this world 
But for supporting robbers, shall we now 
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes. 
And sell the mighty space of our large honors 25 

For so much trash as may be grasped thus ? 
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon. 
Than such a Roman. 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 67 

Cas. Brutus, bait not me ; 

I '11 not endure it : you forget yourself, 
To hedge me in ; I am a soldier, I, 30 

Older in practice, abler than yourself 
To make conditions. 

Bru. Go to ; you are not, Cassius. 

Cas. I am. 

Bru. I say you are not. 

Cas. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself ; 35 

Have mind upon your health, tempt me no farther. 

Bru. Away, slight man ! 

Cas. Is 't possible ? 

Bru. Hear me, for I will speak. 

Must I give way and room to your rash choler ? 
Shall I be frighted when a madman stares ? 40 

Cas. ye gods, ye gods ! must T endure all this ? 

Bru. All this ! ay, more : fret till your proud heart 
break ; 
Go show your slaves how choleric you are, 
And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge. 
Must I observe you ? must I stand and crouch 45 

Under your testy humor ? By the gods, 
You shall digest the venom of your spleen, 
Though it do split you ; for, from this day forth, 
I '11 use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter. 
When you are waspish. 

Cas. Is it come to this ? 50 

Bru. You say you are a better soldier : 
Let it appear so ; make your vaunting true. 
And it shall please me well : for mine own part, 
I shall be glad to learn of noble men. 

Cas. You wrong me every way ; you wrong me, Brutus ; 



68 JULIUS C^SAR. 

I said, an elder soldier, not a better : 56 

Did I say, better ? 

Bru. If you did, I care not. 

Cas. When Caesar lived, he durst not thus have 
moved me. 

Bru. Peace, peace ! you durst not so have tempted him. 

Cas. I durst not ! 60 

Bru. No. 

Cas. What, durst not tempt him ! 

Bru. For your life you durst not. 

Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love ; 
I may do that I shall be sorry for. 

Bru. You have done that you should be sorry for. 65 
There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats ; 
For I am armed so strong in honesty 
That they pass by me as the idle wind. 
Which I respect not. I did send to you 
For certain sums of gold, which you denied me : 70 

For I can raise no money by vile means : 
By heaven, I had rather coin my heart. 
And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring 
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash 
By any indirection : I did send 75 

To you for gold to pay my legions. 
Which you denied me : was that done like Cassius ? 
Should I have answered Cains Cassius so ? 
When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous. 
To lock such rascal counters from his friends, 80 

Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts, 
Dash him to pieces ! 

Cas. I denied you not. 

Bru. You did. 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 69 

Cas. I did not : he was but a fool 

That brought my answer back. Brutus hath rived my 

heart : 
A friend should bear his friend's infirmities, 85 

But Brutus makes mine greater than they are. 

Bru. I do not, till you practise them on me. 

Cas. You love me not. 

Bru, I do not like your^ faults. 

Cas. A friendly eye could never see such faults. 

Bru. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear 90 
As huge as high Olympus. 

Cas. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come ; 
Kevenge yourselves alone on Cassius, 
For Cassius is aweary of the world ; 

Hated by one he loves ; braved by his brother ; 95 

Checked like a bondman ; all his faults observed, 
Set in a note-book, learned, and conned by rote, 
To cast into my teeth. 0, I could weep 
My spirit from mine eyes ! There is my dagger, 
And here my naked breast ; within, a heart " 100 

Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold : 
If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth ; 
I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart : 
Strike, as thou didst at Csesar ; for I know. 
When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him 
better 105 

Than ever thou lovedst Cassius.- 

Bru. Sheathe yoiir dagger : 

Be angry when you will, it shall have scope ; 
Do what you will, dishonor shall be humor. 
Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb 
That carries anger as the flint bears fire, 110 



70 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark 
And straight is cold again. 

Cas. Hath Cassius lived 

To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, 
When grief and blood ill-tempered vexeth him ? 

Brn. When I spoke that, I was ill-tempered too. 115 

Cas. Do you confess so much ? Give me your hand. 

Bru. And my heart too. 

Cas. Brutus ! 

Bru. What 's the matter ? 

Cas. Have not you love enough to bear with me, 
When that rash humor which my mother gave me 
Makes me forgetful ? 

Bru. Yes, Cassius, and from henceforth, 120 

When you are over-earnest with your Brutus, 
He '11 think your mother chides, and leave you so. 

Poet. [ Within.'] Let me go in to see the generals ; 
There is some grudge between 'em; 'tis not meet 
They be alone. 

Lucil. [ Within.] You shall not come to them. 125 

Boet. [ Within.] Nothing but death shall stay me. 

Enter Poet, followed hy Lucilius, Titixius, and Lucius. 

Cas. How now ! what 's the matter ? 

Poet. For shame, you generals ! what do you mean ? 
Love, and be friends, as two such men should be ; 
For I have seen more years, I 'm sure, than ye. l;":o 

Cas. Ha, ha ! how vilely doth this cynic rhyme ! 

Bru. Get you hence, sirrah ; saucy fellow, hence ! 

Cas. Bear with him, Brutus ; 't is his fashion. 

Bru. I '11 know his humor, when he knows his time : 
What should the wars do with these jigging fools ? 135 
Companion, hence ! 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 71 

Cas. Away, away, be gone ! \_Exit Poet. 

Bru. Lucilius ancKTitinms, bid the commanders 
Prepare to lodge their companies to-night. 

Cas. And come yourselves, and bring Messala with yon 
Immediately to us. \_Exeu7it LiiclUus and Tltlnius. 

Bru. Lucius, a bowl of wine ! \_Exit Lucius. 

Cas. I did not think yon could have been so angry. 141 

Bru. Cassins, I am sick of many griefs. 

Cas. Of your philosophy you make ilo use. 
If you give place to accidental evils. 

Bru. ISTo man bears sorrow better : Portia is dead. 145 

Cas. Ha ! Portia ! 

Brii. She is dead. 

Cas. How scaped I killing when I crossed you so ? 

insupportable and touching loss ! 
Upon what sickness ? 

Bru. Impatient of my absence, 150 

And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony 
Have made themselves so strong : for with her death 
That tidings came : with this she fell distract. 
And, her attendants absent, swallowed fire. 

Cas. And died so ? 

Bru. Even so. 

Cas. ye immortal gods ! 155 

Re-enter Lucius, ivith luiiie and tajjer. 

Bru. Speak no more of her. Give me a bowl of wine. 
In this I bury all unkindness, Cassins. \I)rinks. 

Cas. My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge. 
Fill, Lucius, till the wine o'erswell the cup ; 150 

1 cannot drink too much of Brutus' love. [^Drinks. 
Bru. Come in, Titinius ! \_Exit Lucius. 



72 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Re-enter Titinius, loith Messala. 

« 

Welcome, good Messala. 
Now sit we close about this taper here, 
And call in question our necessities. 

Cas. Portia, art thou gone ? 

Bru. ISTo more, I pray you. 

Messala, I have here received letters, 165 

That young Octavius and Mark Antony 
Come down upon us with a mighty power. 
Bending their expedition toward Philippi. 

Mes. Myself have letters of the selfsame tenor. 

Bru. With what addition ? 170 

Mes. That by proscription and bills of outlawry, 
Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, 
Have put to death an hundred senators. 

Bru. Therein our letters do not well agree ; 
Mine speak of seventy senators that died 175 

By their proscriptions, Cicero being one. 

Cas. Cicero one ! 

Mes. Cicero is dead. 

And by that order of proscription. 
Had you your letters from your wife, my lord ? 

Bynt. No, Messala. 180 

Mes. Nor nothing in your letters writ of her ? 

Bru. Nothing, Messala. 

Mes. That, methinks, is strange. 

Bru. Why ask you ? hear you aught of her in yours ? 

Mes. No, my lord. 

Bru. Now, as you are a Roman, tell me true. 185 

Mes. Then like a Roman bear the truth I tell : 
For certain she is dead, and by strange manner. 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 73 

Bru. Why, farewell, Portia. We must die, Messala : 
With meditating that she must die once 
I have the patience to endure it now. 190 

Mes. Even so great men great losses should endure. . 

Ca.s. I have as much of this in art as you, 
But yet my nature could not bear it so. 

Bru. Well, to our work alive. What do you think 
Of marching to Philippi presently ? 195 

Cas. I do not think it good.' 

Bru. Your reason ? 

Cas. This it is : 

^T is better that the enemy seek us : 
So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers, 
Doing himself offence ; whilst we, lying still. 
Are full of rest, defence, and nimbleness. 200 

Bru. Good reasons must of force give place to better. 
The people 'twixt Philippi and this ground 
Do stand but in a forced affection. 
For they have grudged us contribution : 
The enemy, marching along by them, 205 

By them shall make a fuller number up, 
Come on refreshed, new-added, and encouraged ; 
From which advantage shall we cut him off, 
If at Philippi we do face him there, 
Tliese people at our back. 

Cas. Hear me, good brother. 210 

Bru, Under your pardon. You must note beside. 
That we have tried the utmost of our friends. 
Our legions are brim-full, our cause is ripe : 
The enemy increaseth every day ; 

We, at the height, are ready to decline. 215 

There is a tide in the affairs of men, 



74 JULIUS CjESAR. 

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; 

Omitted, all the voyage of their life 

Is bound in shallows and in miseries. 

On such a full sea are we now afloat ; 220 

And we must take the current when it serves, 

Or lose our ventures. 

Cas. Then, with your will, go on ; 

We '11 along ourselves, and meet them at Philippi. 

Bru. The deep of niglit is crept upon our talk. 
And nature must obey necessity 5 225 

AVhich we will niggard with a little rest. 
There is no more to say ? 

Cas. No more. Good night : 

Early to-morrow will we rise and hence. 

Btni. Lucius ! \_Entei' Lucius.'] My gown. \_JExlt Lucius.'] 
Farewell, good Messala : 
Good night, Titinius : noble, noble Cassius, 230 

Good night, and good repose. 

Cas. my dear brother ! 

This was an ill beginning of the night : 
Never come such division 'tween our souls ! 
Let it not, Brutus. 

Bru. Everything is well. 

Cas. Good night, my lord. 

Bru. Good night, good brother. 235 

Tit. Mes. Good night, lord Brutus. 

Bru. Farewell, every one. 

\_Ex6unt all but Brutus. 

Be-enter Lucius, with the gown. 

Give me the gown. AVhere is thy instrument ? 
Luc. Here in the tent. 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 75 

Bru. What, thou speak'st drowsily ? 

Poor knave, I blame thee not ; thou art o'erwatched. 
Call Claudius and some other of my men ; 240 

I '11 have them sleep on cushions in my tent. 

Luc. Yarro and Claudius ! 

Enter Varro and Claudius. 
Var. Calls my lord ? 

Bru. I pray you, sirs, lie in my tent and sleep ; 
It may be I shall raise you by and by 245 

On business to my brother Cassius. 

Var. So please you, we will stand and watch your 

pleasure. 
Bru. I will not have it so : lie down, good sirs ; 
It may be I shall otherwise bethink me. 
Look, Lucius, here 's the book I sought for so ; 250 

I put it in the pocket of my gown. 

[ Varro and Claudius lie down. 
Luc. I was sure your lordship did not give it me. 
Bru. Bear with me, good boy, I am much forgetful. 
Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile, 
And touch thy instrument a strain or two ? 255 

Luc. Ay, my lord, an 't please you. 
• Bru. It does, my boy : 

I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing. 
Luc. It is my duty, sir. 

Bru. I should not urge thy duty past thy might ; 
I know young bloods look for a time of rest. 260 

Luc. I have slept, my lord, already. 
Bru. It was Avell done ; and thou shalt sleep again ; 
I will not hold thee long ; if I do live, 
I Avill be good to thee. \Music, and a song. 

This is a sleepy tune. murderous slumber, 265 



76 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy, 

That plays thee music ? Gentle knave, good night ; 

I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee : 

If thou dost nod, thou break'st thy instrument ; 

I '11 take it from thee ; and, good boy, good night. 270 

Let me see, let me see ; is not the leaf turned down 

Where I left reading ? Here it is, I think. 

Enter the Ghost of C^sar. 
How ill this taper burns ! Ha ! who comes here ? 
I think it is the weakness of mine eyes 
That shapes this monstrous apparition. 275 

It comes upon me. Art thou any thing ? 
Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil. 
That makest my blood cold and my hair to stare ? 
Speak to me what thou art. 

Ghost. Thy evil spirit, Brutus. 

Bru. Why comest thou ? 280 

Ghost. To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi. 

Bru. Well ; then I shall see thee again ? 

Ghost. Ay, at Philippi. 

Bru. Why, I will see thee at Philippi, then. 

\_Exit Ghost. 
Now I have taken heart thou vanishest : 285 

111 spirit, I would hold more talk with thee. 
Boy, Lucius ! Varro ! Claudius ! Sirs, awake ! 
Claudius ! 

Luc. The strings, my lord, are false. 

Bru. He thinks he still is at his instrument. 290 

Lucius, awake ! 

Luc. My lord ? 

Bru. Didst thou dream, Lucius, that thou so criedst 
out? 



ACT V. SCENE I. 77 

Luc. My lord, I do not know that I did cry. 

Bru. Yes, that thou didst : didst thou see any thing ? 

Luc. Nothing, my lord. 

Bru. Sleep again, Lucius. Sirrah, Claudius ! 
[To Varro'] Fellow thou, awake ! 

Var. My lord ? 

Clau. My lord? 300 

Bru. Why did you so cry out, sirs, in your sleep ? 

Var. Clau. Did we, my lord ? 

Bru. Ay : saw you any thing ? 

Var. Ko, my lord, I saw nothing. 

Clau. ISTor I, my lord. 

Bru. Go and commend me to my brother Cassius ; 
Bid him set on his powers betimes before, 305 

And we will follow. 

Var. Clau. It shall be done, my lord. \_Ex6U7it 

ACT V. 

Scene I. The plains of Philippi. 
Enter Octavius, Antony, and their Army. 

Oct. Now, Antony, our hopes are answered : 
You said the enemy would not come down, 
But keep the hills and upper regions ; 
It proves not so : their battles are at hand ; 
They mean to warn us at Philippi here, 5 

Answering before we do demand of them. 

jbit. Tut, I am in their bosoms, and I know 
Wherefore they do it : they could be content 
To visit other places ; and come down 
With fearful bravery, thinking by this face 10 

To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage ; 
But 't is not so. 



78 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Enter a Messenger. 

Mess. Prepare you, generals : 

The enemy comes on in gallant show ; 
Their bloody sign of battle is hung out, 
And something to be done immediately. 15 

Ant. Octavius, lead your battle softly on, 
Upon the left hand of the even field. 

Oct. Upon the right hand I ; keep thou the left. 

Ant. Why do you cross me in this exigent ? 19 

Oct. I do not cross you ; but I will do so. \_March. 

Di'um. Enter Brutus, Cassius, a7id their Army ; Lu- 
ciLius, TiTixius, Messala, and others. 

Brii. They stand, and would have parley. 

Cas. Stand fast, Titinius : we must out and talk. 

Oct. Mark Antony, shall we give sign of battle ? 

Ant. No, Caesar, we will answer on their charge. 
Make forth ; the generals would have some words. 25 

Oct. Stir not until the signal. 

Brii. Words before blows : is it so, countrymen ? 

Oct. Not that we love words better, as you do. 

Bru. Good words are better than bad strokes, Octa- 
vius. 

Ant. In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good 
words : 
Witness the hole you made in Caesar's heart, 31 

Crying " Long live ! hail, Csesar ! " 

Cas. Antony, 

The posture of your blows are yet unknown ; 
But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees, 
And leave them honey less. 

Ant. Not stingless too. 36 



ACT V. SCENE I. 79 

Bru. 0, yes, and soundless too ; 
For you have stolen their buzzing, Antony, 
And very wisely threat before you sting. 

Ant. Villains, you did not so, when your vile daggers 
Hacked one another in the sides of Csesar : 40 

You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like 

hounds. 
And bowed like bondmen, kissing Caesar's feet ; 
Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind 
Struck Csesar on the neck. you flatterers ! 

Cas. Flatterers ! Now, Brutus, thank yourself : 45 
This tongue had not offended so to-day, 
If Cassius might have ruled. 

Oct. Come, come, the cause : if arguing make us sweat, 
The proof of it will turn to redder drops. 
Look ; 50 

I draw a sword against conspirators 5 
When think you that the sword goes up again ? 
Never, till Caesar's three and thirty wounds 
Be well avenged, or till another Caesar 
Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors. 55 

Bru. Caesar, thou canst not die by traitors' hands. 
Unless thou bring'st them with thee. 

Oct. So I hope ; 

I was not born to die on Brutus' sword. 

Bru. 0, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain. 
Young man, thou couldst not die more honorable. 60 

Cas. A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such honor, 
Joined with a masker and a reveller ! 

Ant. Old Cassius still ! 

Oct. Come, Antony, away . 

Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth : 



80 JULIUS C^SAR. 

If you dare fight to-day, come to the fiekl ; 65 

If not, when you have stomachs. 

\_Exeiint Octavius, A7itony, and their army. 

Cas. Why, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim 
bark ! 
The storm is up, and all is on the hazard. 

Bru. Ho, Lucilius ! hark, a word with you. 

Lucil. \_Standing fortli.'] My lord ! 

\_Brutus and Lucilius co7iverse apart. 

Cas. Messala . 

Mes. \_Standing forth.'] What says my general ? 

Cas. Messala, 

This is my birthday ; as this very day 71 

Was Cassius born. Give me thy hand, Messala : 
Be thou my witness that against my will, 
As Pompey was, am I compelled to set 
Upon one battle all our liberties. 75 

You know that I held Epicurus stro]ig 
And his opinion : now I change my mind. 
And partly credit things that do presage. 
Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign 
Two mighty eagles fell, and there they perched, 80 

Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands ; 
Who to Philippi here consorted us : 
This morning are they fled away and gone ; 
And in their steads do ravens, crows and kites 
Ply o'er our heads and downward look on us, 85 

As we Avere sickly prey : their shadows seem 
A canopy most fatal, under which 
Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost. 

Mes. Believe not so. 

Cas. I but believe it partly ; 



ACT V. SCENE L 81 

For I am fresh of spirit and resolved 90 

To meet all perils very constantly. 

Bru. Even so, Lucilius, 

Cas. Now, most noble Brutus, 

The gods to-day stand friendly, that we may, 
Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age ! 
But since the affairs of men rest still incertain, 95 

Let 's reason with the worst that may befall. 
If we do lose this battle, then is this 
The very last time we shall speak together : 
What are you then determined to do ? 

Bru. Even by the rule of that philosophy 100 

By which I did blame Cato for the death 
Which he did give himself : I know not how, 
But I do find it cowardly and vile. 
For fear of what might fall, so to prevent 
The time of life : arming myself with patience 105 

To stay the providence of some high powers 
That govern us below. 

Cas. Then, if we lose this battle, 

You are contented to be led in triumph 
Thorough the streets of Rome ? 

Bru. No, Cassius, no : think not, thou noble Koman, 
That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome ; 111 

He bears too great a mind. But this same day 
Must end that Avork the ides of March begun ; 
And whether we shall meet again I know not. 
Therefore our everlasting farewell take : 115 

For ever, and for ever, farewell Cassius ! 
If we do meet again, why, we shall smile ; 
If not, why then this parting was well made. 

Cas. For ever, and for ever, farewell, Brutus ! 



82 JULIUS CJESAR. 

If we do meet again, we '11 smile imleed ; 120 

If not, 't is true this parting was well made. 

B7m. Why, then, lead on. 0, that a man might know 
The end of this day's business ere it come ! 
But it sufficeth that the day will end. 
And then the end is known. Come, ho ! away ! \_Exeunt. 

Scene II. The same. The field of battle. 
Alarum. Enter Brutus and Messala. 
Bru. Eide, ride, Messala, ride, and give these bills 
Unto the legions on the other side. \_Loud alarum.. 

Let them set on at once ; for I perceive 
But cold demeanor in Octavius' wing, 
And sudden push gives them the overthrow. 5 

Ride, ride, Messala : let them all come down. [Exeunt. 

ScEiSTE III. Another part of the field. 
Alarums. Enter Cassius and Titinius. 

Cas. 0, look, Titinius, look, the villains fly ! 
Myself have to my own turned enemy : 
This ensign here of mine was turning back ; 
I slew the coward, and did take it from him. 

Tit. Cassius, Brutus gave the word too early ; 5 
Who, having some advantage on Octavius, 
Took it too eagerly : his soldiers fell to spoil. 
Whilst we by Antony are all enclosed. 

Enter Pindarus. 

Pin. Fly further off, my lord, fly further off ; 
Mark Antony is in your tents, my lord : 10 

Fly, therefore, noble Cassius, fly far off. 

Cas. This hill is far enough. Look, look, Titinius ; 
Are those my tents where I perceive the fire ? 



ACT V. SCENE TIL 83 

Tit. They are, my lord. 

Cas. Titinius, if thou lovest me, 

Mount thou my horse and hide thy spurs in him, 15 

Till he have brought thee up to yonder troops 
And here again ; that I may rest assured 
Whether yond troops are friend or enemy. 

Tit. I will be here again, even with a thought. \_Exit. 

Cas. Go, Pindarus, get higher on that hill ; 20 

My sight was ever thick ; regard Titinius, 
And tell me what thou notest about the field. 

\_Pindants asceiids the hill. 
This day I breathed first : time is come round, 
And where I did begin, there shall I end ; 
My life is run his compass. Sirrah, what news ? 2.5 

Pin. [^Above.'\ my lord ! 

Cas. What news ? 

Pin. \_Ahove.'] Titinius is enclosed round about 
With horsemen, that make to him on the spur ; 
Yet he spurs on. Now they are almost on him. 30 

Now, Titinius ! Now some light. 0, he lights too. 
He 's ta'en. \_Shout.~\ And, hark ! they shout for joy. 

Cas. Come down, behold no more. 
0, coward that I am, to live so long, 
To see my best friend ta'en before my face ! 35 

\_PindaTus descends. 
Come hither, sirrah : 
In Parthia did I take thee prisoner ; 
And then I swore thee, saving of thy life. 
That whatsoever I did bid thee do, 

Thou shouldst attempt it. Come now, keep thine oath ; 
Now be a freeman : and with this good sword, 41 

That ran through Caesar's bowels, search this bosom. 



84 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Stand not to answer : here, take thou the hilts ; 
And, when my face is covered, as 't is now. 
Guide thou the sword. [^Pindarus stabs him.'] Csesar, 
thou art revenged, 45 

Even with the sword that killed thee. \^Dies. 

Pin. So, I am free ; yet would not so have been, 
Durst I have done my will. Cassius ! 
Far from this country Pindarus shall run. 
Where never Koman shall take note of him. [^Sxit. 

Re-enter Titinius ivith Messala. 

Mes. It is but change, Titinius ; for Octavius 51 

Is overthrown by noble Brutus' power. 
As Cassius' legions are by Antony. 

Tit. These tidings will well comfort Cassius. 

Mes. Where did you leave him ? 

Tit. All disconsolate, 55 

With Pindarus his bondman, on this hill. 

Mes. Is not that he that lies upon the ground ? 

Tit. He lies not like the living. my heart ! 

Mes. Is not that he ? 

Tit. No, this was he, Messala, 

But Cassius is no more. setting sun, 60 

As in thy red rays thou dost sink to-night. 
So in his red blood Cassius' day is set ; 
The sun of Kome is set ! Our day is gone ; 
Clouds, dews, and dangers come ; our deeds are done ! 
Mistrust of my success hath done this deed. 65 

Mes. Mistrust of good success hath done this deed. 
hateful error, melancholy's child, 
AVhy dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men 
The things that are not ? error, soon conceived, 



ACT V. SCENE TIT. 85 

Thou never comest unto a happy birth, 70 

But kill'st the mother that engendered thee. 

Tit. What, Pindarus ! where art thou, Pindarus ? 

Mes. Seek him, Titinius, whilst I go to meet 
The noble P)rutus, thrusting this report 
Into his ears : I may say, thrusting it ; 75 

For piercing steel and darts envenomed 
Shall be as welcome to the ears of Brutus 
As tidings of this sight. 

Tit. Hie you, Messala, 

And I will seek for Pindarus the while. \_Exit Messala. 
Why didst thou send me forth, brave Cassius ? 80 

Did I not meet thy friends ? and did not they 
Put on my brows this wreath of victory, 
And bid me give it thee ? Didst thou not hear their 

shouts ? 
Alas, thou hast misconstrued every thing ! 
But, hold thee, take this garland on thy brow ; 85 

Thy Brutus bid me give it thee, and I 
Will do his bidding. Brutus, come apace, 
And see how I regarded Caius Cassius. 
By your leave, gods : this is a Roman's part : 
Come, Cassius' sword, and find Titinius' heart. 

\_Kills himself. 

Alarum. Re-enter Messala, ivith Brutus, young Cato, 
Stkato, Volumnius, and Lucilius. 
Bru. Where, where, Messala, doth his body lie ? 91 
Mes. Lo, yonder, and Titinius mourning it. 
Bru. Titinius' face is upward. 
Cato. He is slain. 

Bru. Juli^is Caesar, thou art mighty yet ! 



86 JULIUS C^SAR. 

Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords 95 

In our own proper entrails. \_Loiv alarums. 

Cato. Brave Titinius ! 

Look, whether he have not crowned dead Cassius ! 

Bru. Are yet two Romans living such as these ? 
The last of all the Eomans, fare thee well ! 
It is impossible that ever Home 100 

Should breed thy fellow. Friends, I owe moe tears 
To this dead man than you shall see me pay. 
I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time. 
Come, therefore, and to Thasos send his body : 
His funerals shall not be in our camp, 105 

Lest it discomfort us. Lucilius, come ; 
And come, young Cato ; let us to the field. 
Labeo and Flavins, set our battles on : 
'T is three o'clock ; and, Eomans, yet ere night 
We shall try fortune in a second fight. [^Exeunt.'] 110 

Scene IY. Another part of the field. 

Alarum. Enter, fighting, Soldiers of both armies ; then 

Brutus, young Cato, Lucilius, and others. 

Bru. Yet, countrymen, 0, yet hold up your heads ! 

Cato. What bastard doth not ? Who will go with me ? 
I Avill proclaim my name about the field : 
I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho ! 

A foe to tyrants, and my country's friend ; 5 

I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho ! 

Bru. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I ; 
Brutus, my country's friend ; know me for Brutus ! [Exit. 

Lucil. young and noble Cato, art thou down ? 
Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius ; 10 

And mayst be honored, being Cato's son. 

First Sold. Yield, or thou diest. 



ACT V. SCENE V. 87 

Lucil. Only I yield to die : 

There is so miicli that thou wilt kill me straight ; 

\_Off eying money. 
Kill Brutus, and be honored in his death. 

First Sold. We must not. A noble prisoner ! 15 

Sec. Sold. Eoom, ho ! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en. 

First Sold. I '11 tell the news. Here comes the general. 

Enter Antony. 
Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord. 

Ant. Where is he ? 

Lucil. Safe, Antony ; Brutus is safe enough : 20 

I dare assure thee that no enemy 
Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus : 
The gods defend him from so great a shame ! 
When you do find him, or alive or dead. 
He will be found like Brutus, like himself. 25 

Ant. This is not Brutus, friend ; but, I assure you, 
A prize no less in worth : keep this man safe ; 
Give him all kindness : I had rather have 
Such men my friends than enemies. GrO on. 
And see whether Brutus be alive or dead ; 30 

And bring us word unto Octavius' tent 
How every thing is chanced. [_Exennt. 

Scene V. Another part of the field. 
Enter Brutus, Dardanius, Clitus, Steato, and 

VOLUMNIUS. 

Bru. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock. 

Cli. Statilius show'd the torch-light, but, my lord. 
He came not back : he is or ta'en or slain. 

Bru. Sit thee down, Clitus : slaying is the word ; 
It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus. [ Whisj^ei^inc/. 5 



88 JULIUS CjESAB. 

Cli What, I, my lord ? No, not for all the world. 

Bru. Peace, then ! no words. 

Cli. I '11 rather kill myself. 

Bru. Hark thee, Dardanius. [ Whispering. 

Dar. Shall I do such a deed ? 

Cli. Dardanius ! 

Dar. Clitus ! 10 

Cli. What ill request did Brutus make to thee ? 

Dar. To kill him, Clitus. Look, he meditates. 

Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief, 
That it runs over even at his eyes. 

Bru. Come hither, good Volumnius ; list a word. 15 

Vol. What says my lord ? 

Bru. Why, this, Volumnius : 

The ghost of Csesar hath appeared to me 
Two several times by night ; at Sardis once. 
And this last night here in Philippi fields : 
I know my hour is come. 

Vol. Not so, my lord. 20 

Bru. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius. 
Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes ; 
Our enemies Rave beat us to the pit : \_Low alarums. 

It is more worthy to leap in ourselves. 
Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius, 25 

Thou know'st that we two went to school together : 
Even for that our love of old, I prithee. 
Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it. 

Vol. That 's not an office for a friend, my lord. 

\_Ala7n1m still. 

Cli. Fly, fly, my lord ; there is no tarrying here. 30 

Bru. Farewell to you ; and you ; and you, Volumnius. 
Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep ; 



ACT V. SCENE V. 89 

Farewell to thee too, Strato. Countrymen, 

My heart cloth joy that yet in all my life 

I found no man but he was true to me. 35 

I shall have glory by this losing day, 

More than Octavius and Mark Antony 

By this vile conquest shall attain unto. 

So, fare you well at once ; for Brutus tongue 

Hath almost ended his life's history : 40 

Night hangs upon mine eyes ; my bones would rest, 

That have but labored to attain this hour. 

\_Alarum. Cry within, " Fly, fly, fly ! " 

Cli Fly, my lord, fly. 

Bru. Hence ! I will follow. 

\_Exeunt Clitus, Dardanius, and Volumnius. 
I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord : 
Thou art a fellow of a good respect ; 45 

Thy life hath had some smatch of honor in it : 
Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face. 
While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato ? 

Sti^a. Grive me your hand first. Fare you well, my lord. 

Bru. Farewell, good Strato. \_Ru7is on his sivord.'] 

Caesar, now be still : 50 

I killed not thee with half so good a will. [^Dies. 

Alarum. Retreat. Enter Octavius, Antony, IVIessala, 
LuciLius, and the army, 

Oct. What man is that ? 

Mes. My master's man. Strato, where is thy master ? 

Stra. Free from the bondage you are in, Messala : 
The conquerors can but make a fire of him ; 55 

For Brutus only overcame himself, 
And no man else hath honor by his death. 



90 JULIUS CJSSAR. 

Lucil. So Brutus should be found. I thank thee, 
Brutus, 
That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true. 

Oct. All that served Brutus, I will entertain them. 60 
Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me ? 

Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you. 

Oct. Do so, good Messala. 

Mes. How died my master, Strato ? 

Stra. I held the sword, and he did run on it. 65 

Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, 
That did the latest service to my master. 

Ant. This was the noblest Eoman of them all : 
All the conspirators, save only he, 

Did that they did in envy of great Csesar ; 70 

He only, in a general honest thought 
And common good to all, made one of them. 
His life was gentle, and the elements 
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up 
And say to all the world, " This was a man ! " 75 

Oct. According to his virtue let us use him, 
With all respect and rites of burial. 
Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie, 
Most "like a soldier, ordered honorably. 
So call the field to rest ; and let 's away, 80 

To part the glories of this happy day. \_Exeunt. 



PERSONS REPRESENTED. 

(Appears) 

Julius C^sar I, 2; II, 2; III, 1. 

OcTAVius C^SAR, a triumvir 

after the death o/ Julius Caesar, IV, 1; V, 1, 5. 
Marcus Antonius, a triumvir 

after the death of Julius Caesar, I, 2; II, 2; III, 1, 2; IV, 1; V, 1, 4, 5. - 
M. -(Emilius Lepidus, a tri- 
umvir after the death o/ Caesar, III, 1; IV, I. 

Cicero, a senator I, 2, 3. 

'Ptsslivs, a senator II, 2; III, 1. 

PopiLius Lena, a senator .... Ill, 1. 

Marcus Brutus, a conspirator .1,2; II, 1, 2; III, 1, 2; IV, 2, 3; V, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 

Cassius, a conspirator I, 2, 3; II, 1; III, 1, 2; IV, 2, 3; V, 1, 3. 

Casca, a conspirator I, 2. 3; II. 1, 2; 111,1. 

Trebonius, a co?^sp^ra^or . . . II, 1, 2; III, 1. 
LiGARius, a conspirator .... 11,1,2. 
Decius Brutus, a conspirator . 1, 2; II, 1, 2; III, 1. 
Metellus Cimber, a conspirator, 11, 1, 2; III, 1. 

Cmi^iA, a conspirator I, 3 ; II, 1, 2 ; III, 1. 

Flavius, a tribune I, 1. 

Marullus, a tribune ...... I, 1. 

Artemidorus, a sophist of 

Cnidos II, 3; III, 1. 

A Soothsayer I, 2; II, 4; III, 1. 

CiJiitiA, a poet 111,3. 

A Poet IV, 3. 

LuciLius, a friend to Brutus and 

Cassius . . IV, 2, 3; V, 1, 3, 4, 5. 

TiTiNius, a friend to Brutus and 

Cassius IV, 2, 3; V, 1, 3. 

Messala, a friend to Brutus and 

Cassius IV, 3; V, 1, 2, 3, 5, 

Young Cato, a friend to Brutus 

a7id Cassius V, 3, 4. 

VoLUMNius, a friend to Brutus 

a7id Cassius V> 3, 5. 

Varro, servant to Brutus .... IV, 3. 
Clitus, servant to Brutus . . . . V, 5. 
CjuAvdivs, set'vant to Bruins . . . IV, 3, 
Strato, serva7it to Brutus . . . . V, 3, 5. 
Lucius, servant to Brutus . . . . n, 1, 4; IV, 2, 3. 
Dardanius, servant to Brutus . V, 5. 
PiNDARUS, servayit to Cassius . . IV, 2; V, 3. 
Calpurnia, ^oife to Caesar . . . I, 2; 11, 2. 
Portia, wife to Brutus I, 2 ; II, 1, 4. 

Senators, Citizens, Guards, Attendants, etc. 

SCENE. — During a great part op the Plat at Rome; afterwards at 

Sardis, and near Philippi. 

(92) 



NOTES. 1 

Julius Ccesar must have been written between 1598 and 1603. 
Dowden assigns it to the year 1601. It was first published in 
the folio of 1623. The play belongs to the same period of the 
poet's life as Hamlet. The poet's diction at this period was 
simpler, his style more flowing, and to modern readers easier, 
than it became in the later plays, as, e.g., in Coriolanus and 
Cymbeline. 

As com^^ared with the other great tragedies, except Macbeth, 
Julius Ceesar is remarkably short. The peculiarity has been 
conjecturally accounted for by supposing that the copy of the 
play which came into the hands of the editors of 1623 had 
been shortened for stage purposes ; and there are some reasons 
for thinking that this shortening was done by Ben Jonson. 
See Fleay's Shakespeare Manual. 

In the text as here given no distinction is made between 
verbs in which the final ed counts as a syllable and those in 
which it does not. This is a matter in which the learner must 
help himself. The peculiarities of Shakespeare's syllabica- 
tion, and the metric freedoms he allowed himself, are only to 
be learned by observation. 

In the readino^ of the verse care must be taken on the one 
hand to catch the rhythmic movement, and on the other, to 
avoid everything like formal scanning. The English blank 
verse is elastic, and assumes various shapes while never depart- 
ing from its norm. Lines that have five equal accents occur 
but now and then ; but with extremely few exceptions, the 
lines are rhythmic, in accordance with the five-accent, iambic 
standard. The reader must learn to reconcile the verses to this 
blank verse standard while at the same time reading naturally 
and with regard to dramatic expression. 

iThe references to the other plays are always to the Globe Shakespeare, 
Macmillan & Co. 



94 NOTES. 



ACT I. 



The subject of the play, it must be understood from the be- 
ginning, is Marcus Brutus. 

The idea of a conspiracy against Ctesar's life is shown in 
the first act as originating in the mind of Cassiiis on grounds 
of personal enmity, and as finding acceptance in the mind of 
Brutus on grounds of concern for the public welfare. The 
deliberate, conscientious meditation of Brutus on the awful 
step he contemplates as the means of freeing Rome from 
tyranny, is contrasted with the ardor and the unscrupulousness 
with which Cassius and Casca apply themselves to the fur- 
therance of the plot, and chiefly to the securing of Brutus as 
its leader. The sum and substance of the act is expressed in 
the last eight lines of the last scene. 

Scene 1. 

All the actors in this scene disappear from the play with the 
end of the scene itself. Tribunes and commoners, they are 
not personce of the drama at all, but speak their brief parts as 
types of the social divisions and the political animosities of the 
Rome of Ceesar's tmie. What the historian would require 
pages to tell and explain the poet in a few lines reveals to 
us as picture. The commoners are nameless, as they are 
in the records of history, and have to be distinguished by 
being numbered ; they are facetious, good-natured, coarse of 
speech, incapable of high political principle. But they repre- 
sent the physical strength of Rome because they are a multi- 
tude and will follow devotedly a leader who wins them to his 
side. AVhoever aspires to control Rome must be popular 
with the commons, and the commons have been won by 
Caesar. The tribunes stand by the lost cause of Pompey. 
The tribunes represent patrician conservatism; they are im- 
perious and full of dignity; their speech is warmed with 
noble sentiment; they ty23ify Roman patriotism. 



NOTES. 95 

3. mechanical. To understand what, in the poet's mind, was 
the connotation of this Avord, compare the following passages : 
Cor. V, 3, 83; Ant. v, 2, 209; Hen. V, i, 2, 200; Mids. iii, 2, 9. 
He always uses the word for the sake of tliis implied meaning, 
never in its honorable modern sense. 

you ought not walk. Everywhere else in Shakespeare, ought 
is connected with its infinitive in the modern way, as in ii, 1, 270. 
See Paradise Lost, viii, 74. There is still another very different 
early construction of ow^Tii^ found, e.g., in Chaucer. See Legend 
of Good Women, Prologue, 27, and the Man of Law's Tale, 1097. 
This Avord has a most interesting history, Avhich should be looked 
up in the dictionaries and historical grammars. 

4. Comjjare laboring with growing in line 73. Do botli these 
words belong to the same part of speech ? Few things in English 
grammar are more puzzling than the verb-forms ending in -ing. 
They cannot be understood without reference to their origins. 

Flavius and MaruUus would seem in. this passage, — lines 1- 
5, — to be enforcing a Roman law ; but the existence of such a 
law is an invention of the poet, who perhaps transfers to Rome 
a usage of his own country. It must be remembered that 
Shakespeare got his knowledge of history from very limited 
reading, and had no conception of nice scholarly scruples 
about mingling features of ancient and modern times. It may 
bje said, generally, that the plays give evidence of wide obser- 
vation, but not of exact learning. 

It is worth noting that Shakespeare, who is so given to pun- 
ning, nowhere uses the word pun in its modern sense. For 
the meaning this word had to the poet see Troil. ii, 1, 42. 
The serious, malevolent ambiguity of speech is described in 
Mac. V, 8. 20 : the playful quibble in Mercli. iii, 5, 74. In the 
speeches of the Second Commoner be sure to see and under- 
stand six pairs of equivocal meanings. 

9. Broken, or partial, lines are frequent in Shakespeare's Averse. 
These partial lines are not unmetrical, and can be scanned so far as 
they go. Sometimes a reason for this procedure may be surmised. 
See lines 53 and 67, this scene. 



96 NOTES. 

It), naughty; a most interesting word. Lookup its derivation. 
See Proverbs, xx, 14^ ; Jeremiah, xxiv, 2 ; Lear, ii, 4, 136, and 
other instances in the Bible and in Shakespeare of tliis word, and 
of naughty or nought^ both as adjective and as noun. Consider 
how the meaning of these Avords has changed. 

26. neat's-leather. Is the word neat yet quite obsolete? See 
it defined by the poet, Wint. i, 2, 124; see also 3 Hen. VI, ii, 
1, 14. 

27. It will be a useful lesson in etymology to investigate the 
three different origins of the I's in handiwork, handicraft^ and 
handicap. 

33. Throughout the dialogue with the commoners the 
speeches of the tribunes have been in verse. Such intermixt- 
ure or close juxtaposition of prose and verse Shakespeare em- 
ploys to enhance the distinction between a certain nobility or 
elevation of tone and the low level of commonplace. Note the 
prose of Casca's story in the next scene and that of Brutus's 
speech, Act iii, Sc. 2. In the latter case the use of prose is an 
affectation of low tone, by which Brutus aims to show himself 
utterly devoid of passion. 

With line 33 Marullus suddenly rises to a high strain of 
fervent indi2:nation which overwhelms the commoners and 
puts an end to the dialogue. This contrast of gentles and 
churls is a frequent motive with Shakespeare, as it had beSn, 
two centuries before, with Chaucer. Social distinctions had 
not in the Tudor time begun to be obliterated by the modern 
democratic revolutions. The great middle class of the present 
day, absorbing into itself all useful elements both from above 
and from below, and already the governing class in all ad- 
vanced nations, was then still a quantity to be neglected. 

42. live-long. Consider the origin, the meaning, and the pro- 
nunciation of the expression. 

46, 48. her banks, her shores. The poet uses the neuter pos- 
sessive its only ten times in all his works. See this play, v, 3, 



NOTES. 97 

25; Hamlet, i, 2, 216. Consult Abbott's Sliak. Gram. 228, 229. 
Compare a passage, e.g., Genesis, i, 24, in the Bible of 1611, with 
the same passage in the revised version of 1885. As to the gender 
ascribed to Tiber^ is Shakespeare in harmony with classic usage ? 
Look up the pronouns referring to Thames in Spenser's Protha- 
lamion. Look up Milton's usage, — Vac. Ex. 94; Comus, 832; 
Lycidas, 55 ; Par. Lost, iv, 224. See also Scriptural usage, — 
Joshua, iii, 15, and 1 Chronicles, xii, 15. 

51. in his way that comes: a construction common enough in 
Elizabethan times. What is the antecedent of that ? See the Gos- 
pel of John, vii, 16. 

52. Consult the histories and learn in what sense Caesar on this 
occasion triumphs "over Pompey's blood." 

59-61. Find in the poet's works other instances of the same 
hyperbole. 

62. metal, also used in the form mettle ; a favorite word with 
Shakespeare in this sense. See line 294, this scene, and Mac. i, 
7, 73. 

&Q>. ceremonies. See Henry Y, iv, 1, 109. 

68. Lupercal. See Plutarch's life of Caesar, but especially 
Smith's Diet, of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Plutarch repre- 
sents the images of Caesar as being set up with diadems on their 
heads, and as being disrobed of their decorations, after the offer- 
ing of the crown (see Scene 2). Historically, the date of the 
annual feast of Lupercal was February 15. 

Scene 2. 

With the second scene all the great characters are introduced. 
First is Marcus Brutus, the hero of the tragedy. Although the 
play bears the name of Julius Cassar, Brutus is the veritable 
hero of it, for it is his fate that furnishes the motive for the 
entire piece, his is the only figure that moves to its tragic exit 
in unbroken dignity and majesty. With not a single touch 
does the poet derogate from the impression of moral great- 
ness which he means we shall form of his P)riitus In his con- 
ception of Brutus's character he follows Plutarch, but goes 



98 NOTES. 

further than his authority, as was dramatically right, and as 
he has done with the other chief persons of the drama, notably 
with Coesar. 

The main motive of the tragedy, — the essentially tragical 
point of it, is the mistake of Brutus in undertaking a task for 
which his moral scrupulousness renders him unfit. The assassi- 
nation of Csesar is, in the play, incidental to the develop- 
ment of the career of Brutus. Brutus commands deference 
from all ; and Cassius, who is Brutus's superior in practical 
sagacity, cheerfully yields to him in matters of crucial moment, 
being overawed by his commanding force of character. This 
force of personal character, joined with a reputation for abso- 
lute integrity of purpose, makes Brutus the natural leader of 
the men of his own rank with whom he is brouo-ht into con- 
tact. He stands well with the mob also, but does not make 
sufficient allowance for its fickleness, and foolishly imputes 
to it something of his own constancy and sense of honor. 

As Shakespeare is not writing history or chronicle, but 
drama, — though indeed he is dramatizing a chapter of history, 
— he is no more bound to observe the exact proportions of char- 
acter as these may be deduced from the records, than he is to 
respect the unities of time and place. For his present purpose 
he wished to enlarge and idealize Brutus, and to obscure and 
vulgarize Csesar. For this procedure with regard to Caesar 
he found a shadow of warrant in his historian. Plutarch is a 
gossip, by no means always studious to tell of his heroes only 
the grand achievements by which men win renown. Cfesar 
appears in his pages quite subject to the infirmities of human 
nature. The poet finds this aspect of the great dictator suit- 
able to his purpose, aggravates it in accordance with his habit, 
and so gives us his Julius Caesar. Ridiculous as the char- 
acter appears to us who think we know something about the 
mightiest Julius, it suited the poet's main purpose in the 
play, and is no more unhistorical than he had a perfect riglit 
to make it. 



NOTES. 99 

That the play is named Julius Caesar, the foremost actor in 
it being Marcus Brutus, seems an anomaly. But so Henry 
VIII is by no means dramatically the chief figure in the his- 
torical play that bears his name. The things in the " Famous 
History of the Life of King Henry VIII" that are " sad, high, 
and working, full of state and woe," do not pertain to the 
king, but to Wolsey and Katharine. It is the tragic fates of 
these two personages that form the motive of the tragedy. 
Phiys which in their earlier form had been entitled " The 
first part of the contention betwixt the two famous liouses 
of Yorke and Lancaster," etc., and " The True Tragedie of 
liichard, Duke of Yorke," etc., and had been correctly so des- 
ignated in accordance with their content, came, under Shake- 
speare's revision, to bear the simple name of King Henry VI. 
Evidently the poet had his reasons for giving to these plays 
the names of the characters in them that were politically, or 
historically, the most imposing. Historical prominence by 
no means implies dramatic usefulness, though a name promi- 
nent in history may be exceedingly useful as the title of a 
drama. 

19. '•'• Furthermore, there was a certaine Soothsayer, that had 
giA'-en Caesar warning long afore, to take heed of the day of the 
Ides of March (which is the fifteenth of the moneth) , for on that 
day he should be in great danger." Plut., Jul. Caes. 

21. Now that Cassius is introduced, let us see how this leader of 
the conspiracy is depicted by Plutarch: " Cassius being a choler- 
icke man, and hating Caesar priuatly, more than he did the tyrannic 
openly, incensed Brutus against him. It is also reported, that 
Brutus could euill away with the tyrannie, and that Cassius hated 
tlie tyrant : making many complaints for the iniuries he had done 
liim ; and amongst others, for that he had taken away his Lions from 
liim. Cassius had prouided them for his sports, when he should be 
iEdilis, and they Avere found in the city of Megara. . . . And 
this was the cause (as some do report) that made Cassius conspire 
against Caesar. But this holdeth no water : for Cassius euen from 



100 NOTES. 

his cradle could not abide any manner of tyrants, as it appeared 
when he was but a boy and went A'nto the same schoole that Faus- 
tus, the son of Sylla, did. And Faustus bragging among other 
boyes, highly boasted of his father's kingdom : Cassius rose vp on 
his feet, and gave him two good Avhirts on the eare. Faustus gov- 
ernors would have put this matter in sute against Cassius ; but 
Pompey Avould not suffer them, but caused the two boyes to be 
brought before him, and asked them hoAv the matter came to passe. 
Then Cassius (as it is written of him) said unto the other : '^ Go too 
Faustus, speake againe and thou darest, before this Nobleman 
here, the same Avords that made me angrie with thee, that my fistes 
may walke once againe about thine ears. Such was Cassius bote 
stirring nature." 

30, 36. Notice that Cassius is pronounced in one case as two 
syllables and in the other as three. 

34. See the same use of as in line 174 of this scene. 

40. passions of some difference ; conflicting passions. 

41. proper to myself; concerning myself alone. 

42. soil. See Hamlet, i, 3, 15. 

49-50. Supposing you had become alienated from me, I had re- 
frained from communicating to you certain momentous thoughts 
Avhich I have been entertaining. 

51. Thus mysteriously the wily Cassius begins to make his over- 
tures to Brutus. 

60. Note the insinuating mention of C^sar. 

91. favor. See Mac. i, 5, 73; Hamlet, v, 1, 214; Proverbs, 
xxxi, 30; and this play.j i, 3, 129. 

95. I had as lief not be as live, etc. A genuine English 
idiomatic expression, present in the language at all periods, and 
still in full vigor and likely to remain so in spite of the hostility of 
those who imagine the had to be the auxiliary of tense and the fol- 
lowing verb mistakenly used for the participle. Had is subjunctive, 
and he and live are infinitives. The attempt to substitute for had a 
subjunctive would is utterly needless, and betrays ignorance of the 
elements of historical grammar. 

110. arrive the point. See Par. Lost, ii, 410; 3 Hen. VI, v, 3, 
8 ; Coriolanus, ii, 3, 189. 



NOTES. 101 

114. One of Shakespeare's occasional six-foot lines. 

156. See K. John, iii, 1, 180. 

162. The word jealous may still be occasionally heard in this 
sense. See 2 Corinthians, xi, 2; Henry Y, iv, 1, 302. 

166. So is here conditional, nearly equivalent to a/, and is fol- 
lowed by the subjunctive, as in 1 Henry IV, i, 3, 76. 

247, 250. swounded, swound. Shakespeare uses these forms 
indifferently with the modern ones, swoon^ swooned. 

253. he hath the falling-sickness. "■ When they had decreed 
diners honors for him in the Senate, the Consuls and Praetors, 
accompanied with the whole assembly of the Senate, went vnto 
him in the market place, where he was set by the pulpit for orations, 
to tell him what honors they had decreed for him in his absence. 
But he sitting stil in his maiestie, disdaining to rise up unto them 
when they came in, as if they had been private men, answered 
them : that his honors had more neede to be cut off then enlarged. 
This did not onely offend the Senate, but the common people also, 
to see that he should so lightly esteeme of the Magistrates of the 
common A\^ealth : insomuch as euery man that might lawfully go 
his way, departed thence very sorrowfully. Thereupon also 
Caesar rising, departed home to his house, and tearing open his 
dublet coUer, making his necke bare, he cried out aloud to his 
friends, that his throte was readie to offer to any man that would 
come and cut it. Notwithstanding, it is reported, that afterAvards 
to excuse this folly, he imputed it to his disease, saying, that their 
wits are not perfit which haue this disease of the falling euill, when 
standing on their feet they speake to the common people, but are 
soone troubled with a trembling of their bodie, and a sodaine dim- 
nesse and giddinesse. But that was not true " etc., Plut., Jul. Cses. 

259. In modern English this employment of use in the present, 
with an infinitive object, is obsolete. 

264. plucked me ope his doublet. See Merch, of Ven. i, 
3, 85; ii, 2, 115; 1 Henry lY, ii, 4, 223, and 241; Two Gent, of 
Yer. iv, 4, 9 ; Tro. and Cres. i, 2, 188 ; Merry Wives, ii, 2, 102. 
The redundant one and you in these passages are instances of the 
so-called ethical dative., used in familiar, animated speech to ex- 
press the speaker's interest in what lie is saying and to stimulate 



102 NOTES. 

interest in the person addressed. The construction is not quite 
obsolete : Carlyle and BulAver used it. 

In clothing his Romans in dovhlets the poet is guilty of one of 
his frequent anachronisms ; but this particular one he gets from 
North's Plutarch. See note to line 253. 

265. On an, or and., as a conjunction with the meaning if., see 
the dictionaries. 

An I had been a man of any occupation. Casca was not a 
man of any occupation : he was a patrician, and did not belong to 
the '^common herd" to whom Cffisar made his offer. 

295. execution : five syllables, metrically half the line. Be on 
the lookout for similar instances of expansion of final ion., ience., 
ius. 

.311. bear me hard. See ii, 1, 215 ; iii, 1, 157. 

314. he should not humor me : liwmor in the sense of cajole. 
See Much Ado, ii, 1, 396; 2 Hen. IV, v, 1, 80. 

Scene 3. 

In the preceding scene we saw Cassius sound Brutus's feel- 
ing concerning the growth of Caesar's power in the state, and 
learned from his final soliloquy the result of his observations, — 

Well, Brutus, thou art noble, yet I see, . . . 

The third scene shows Cassius rapidly and with simple 
means winning the apt spirit of Casca, and concerting with 
Casca and Cinna the subtler devices which shall appeal to the 
moral sense of Brutus. 

Note that Cicero appeared on the stage for a very short 
time at the beginning of Scene 2, but without any part in the 
dialogue. He here appears briefly questioning Casca, then 
to vanish finally from the play. Examine the allusions to 
Cicero (i, 2, 185, 277; ii, 1, 141-253), and consider his 
speeches here, with a view to discussing the question why the 
poet has him as a personage in the play at all. Historically, 
the most imposing figure in the drama, after Csesar himself, 



NOTES. 103 

he is treated, like Caesar, without the least regard for his 
greatness. Why is this ? 

1. brought. See the verb bring in the same sense, Temp, ii, 
2, 171; Much Ado, iii, 2, 3. 

3. the sway of earth ; the fixed and established order of nature. 

12. saucy. The meaning of tlie word is illustrated in Twelfth 
Night, iii, 4, 159. 

20. against, opposite. 

23. upon a heap. See Henry V, iv, 5, 18 ; Richard III, ii, 
1, 53. 

26. the bird of night. See Macbeth, ii, 3, 64 ; Hamlet, i, 1, 160. 

32. climate. Consider other instances of the use of this Avord 
and see if Shakespeare attributes to it the idea of temperature. 
See Tempest, ii, 1, 200; Richard II, iv, 1, 130. 

41. to walk in. An instance of the gerundial infinitive, the to 
being a real preposition, and walk., its object, a verbal noun. 

42. what night is this ! Consider what modification this sen- 
tence needs to make it express its meaning in the English of to-day. 

48. See ii, 1, 262; Hamlet, ii, 1, 78. 

49. thunder-stone. See Othello, v, 2, 235; Cymbeline, iv, 2, 
271. See also helemnite in the dictionaries. 

60. cast yourself in wonder. An unexampled use of the verb 
cast. Richard Grant White ventures to substitute case. 

77. prodigious. Be sure to understand the exact meaning of 
this word. See M. N. Dream, v, 1, 419; Tro. and Cres. v, 1, 
100. 

83. governed with. A use of with common in Shakespeare, 

117. fleering. See Much Ado, v, 1, 58; Rom. and Jul. i, 5, 
59. Hold, as so often in Shakespeare, is interjectional. 

118. factious for redress. See 2 Henry VI, ii, 1, 40; Rich. 
Ill, i, 3, 128. 

138, 148, 155. Shakespeare's use of a singular verb with a plural 
subject is not to be explained as a mere violation of grammatical 
rule. See Abbott's Grammar, 332-338. 

159. alchemy. See K. Jolm, iii, 1, 78; Tim. of Ath. v. 1, 
117. 



104 NOTES. 



ACT II. 

The first act shows the conspinicy in its inception : the 
second shows its progress to maturity. 

Scene 1. 

Brutus decides to himself that Cffisar must die : in his anxi- 
ety he cannot sleep : meeting the other conspirators, he natu- 
rally takes his proper position as leader, and himself initiates a 
new member of the band : his preoccupation of mind alarms 
Portia, whose solicitude for her husband reveals the conflict in 
his soul more impressively than even his own soliloquies. 

5. when, an exclamation of impatience. See Rich. IT, i, 1, 
1G2. 

12. general; as in Ham. ii, 2, 453; Meas. for Meas. ii, 4, 
27. 

15. that, elliptical for, — suppose we do crown him. See also 
Much Ado, ii, 3, 145. 

21. proof; used in a sense noAv obsolete. See M. of V. i, 1, 
144 ; Cymbeline, i, 6, 70. 

28. prevent; in its primitive signification, as below, iii, 1, 35; 
M. of V. i, 1, 61. 

29. color, as 2 Henry VI, iii, 1, 236; Ant. and Cle. i, 3, 32. 
42. calendar; a word of interesting origin. 

55. In this line the words speoJc and strike must l)e regarded as 
having, metrically, each the value of a complete foot. 

59. wasted: in a sense Avhich the Avord no longer has. See M. 
of V. iii, 4, 12. 

How utterly out of the question it is to hold the poet responsible 
for correct dealing with historical ^imeisshoAvn here as in so many 
other instances in the plays. From the feast of Lupercal to the 
ides of March is just a month. But we cannot find this month in 
the drama. The actual time occupied by the events pictured in the 
play, i.e., from the feast of Lupercal, Feb. 15, B.C. 44, to the 
battle of Philippi, Nov., B.C. 42, is about two years and nine 



NOTES. 105 

months. Shakespeare had no occasion to encumber the play with 
chronological data, and has therefore omitted all such data. The 
time-indications here, as in the plays generally, are inferences to 
be drawn from the sequence of events. To enjoy the play it is not 
necessary to draw these inferences at all. To be intimately ac- 
quainted with Roman history is a disqualification for cordial appre- 
ciation of the drama as a work of art, if such acquaintance begets 
a desire to find in the poet the same knowledge. It is always in- 
teresting, in reading a play, whether a "historical" one or not, to 
note the indications of the lapse of time. But these indications 
are usually indefinite, and the best readers will differ as to how 
much they indicate. We must learn to '•'• brook abridgment," 

" jumping o'er times, 
Turnins: the accomplishment of many years 
Into an hour-glass." 

66. genius. See Mac. iii, 1, 56. 

mortal instruments : deadly instruments, — all the means and 
devices Avhich the conspiracy is to use to accomplish its deadly 
purpose. 

Compare this speech of Brutus with the soliloquy of Lady 
Macbeth, i, 5, 39-55. 

72. moe. J/oe, formerly the comparative of many., as more 
was of much., was already in the Tudor period becoming obsolete, 
and the form more was coming to be used in both senses, as it 
now is. 

83. path. The only instance of pa;^/i as a verb. If the reading 
is correct, it must mean walk or go forward. Other readings that 
have been suggested are march., put., hadst., pall., walk., parle., pa.ss., 
pace. AVith the reading path., and with most of the others, tlie 
Avords, thy native semblance on, must be taken absolutely, the 
participle, being., to be understood. 

85. prevention; i.e., anticipation or detection. 

99. night; i.e., sleep. 

101. The "other Brutus" among the conspirators is by the 
poet, who therein follows Plutarch, incorrectly named Decius. 
The name should be Decimus Brutus; and, historically, it was 



106 NOTES. 

this Decimus, and not the arch-conspirator, Marcus Brutus, who 
held so high a place in the affections of Julius Caesar. 

101-111. Cassius haAdng signified his desire to speak privately 
with Brutus, the rest naturally direct their conversation to indif- 
ferent matters. The leaders of the conspiracy seeming to take for 
a moment the entire burden of responsibility on themselves, the 
mental tension of the inferiors seeks relief in what appears a trivial 
and irrelevant debate. But note the poetical elevation of the 
speeches of Cinna and Casca. 

108. weighing; taking into account. 

116. Note the change of construction, — anacoluthon. 

119. lottery. See M. of V. ii, 1, 15. 

126. palter. See Mac. v, 8, 20. 

129. cautelous. See Ham. i, 3, 15; Cor. iv, 1, 33. 

150. break with him. What two dissimilar meanings may this 
expression have? Which is the better here ? 

175-177. Note how the as clause, once introduced, takes the 
lead and draws the rest of the sentence after itself. 

178. envious. See instances of the word meaning, malignant 
or spiteful., Rom. and Jul. i, 1, 156; iii, 1, 173; Ham. iv, 7, 174. 

187. take thought; perhaps with the meaning, grow melan- 
choly. See Hamlet, iv, 5, 188; iii, 4, 51. 

198. apparent; not in the modern sense, but as in Win. Tale, 
1, 2, 270; Rich. Ill, iii, 5, 30. 

212. To fetch him; as in Scene 2 of this act, lines 59 and 108. 

224. look fresh and merrily; an illustration of the indifference 
with which Shakespeare uses adjectiA'e and adverb to complete 
the predicate after the verb look. 

227. with formal constancy, i.e., with speech, gesture, and bear- 
ing consistent with the character they are representing. 

Compare, in respect of tone, Brutus's speech (224-22.8) with the 
speeches of the same tenor in Macbeth, i, 4, 12; i, 5, 63; i, 7, 
82 ; iii, 2, 34. 

231. Thou hast no figures, etc. So King Henry envied the 
'' wet sea-boy," and Macbeth the dead Duncan. 2 K. Hen. IV, 
iii, 1, 4-31; Mac. iii, 2, 23. 

248. Compare, metrically, the word impatience in this line with 
the same word, i, 3, 61. 



NOTES. 107 

280-282. Was there a reservation made in our marriage-bond 
to the effect that I should not know your secrets? \ 

289-290. Consider hoAv the perfect figure exalts and ennobles 
the sentiment. Not only is the expression more beautiful, but it 
means more, than simple, every-day words. 

300. See Plutarch's Marcus Brutus. 

308. See Merry Wives, v, 5, 77. 

323. exorcist, exorcism., and exorciser always refer in Shake- 
speare to the calling up or summoning of spirits. This sense is 
now nearly obsolete. 

324. Do not mistake the meaning of mortified. It is used here 
in the only sense known to Shakespeare. See Mac. v, 2, 5 ; L. 
L. Lost, i, 1, 28 ; Henry V, i, 1, 26 ; M. of V. 1, 1, 82. 

Scene 2. 

The story of Calpurnia's crying out in her sleep, of the ill 
omens announced by the augurs, and of Caesar's irresolution, 
is all in Plutarch, and is not exaggerated by the poet. This 
scene between Calpurnia and Cj»sar and the similar one be- 
tween Portia and Brutus should be compared with reference to 
differences of character in the actors which the dialoo^ue brino^s 
to light. 

57. Here's Decius Brutus. Refer back to ii, 1, 202. 

67. graybeards; a contemptuous reference to the senators. 

76. statue; obviously to be pronounced in three syllables, as 
also in iii, 2, 192. Some editors print statua. 

80. A six-foot line, or Alexandrine. 

89. cognizance; as in 1 Henry VI, ii, 4, 108; Cym. ii, 4, 127. 
A term of heraldry. See dictionary. 

97. rendered, i.e., repeated, talked about. See Bacon's Essay, 
Of Friendship. 

104. liable; that is, subject., as in K. John, ii, 1, 490; Pericles, 
iv, 6, 178. 

121. hour's ; here dissyllabic. 

124, 128. Compare Trebonius's Aside with that of Brutus. 



-[08 NOTES. 

12'.t. That every like is not the same, etc. The like used by 
Caesar is verv (Hfferent from the like in Brutus's mind. 



Scene 3. 

" And one Artemidorus also, a Doctor of Rhetoricke, who 
by meanes of his profession was very familiar with eertaine 
ol' Brutus confederates, and therefore knew the most part of 
all their practices against Cassar, came and brought him a litle 
bill written with his owne hand, of all that he meant to tell 
him." Plutarch, Jul. Cces. 

(>. If thou beest. ^' In the present subjunctive, second singu- 
lar, after t/, though., etc., heesi., properly an indicative form, was 
common in the Ifitli and 17th centuries, and is regularly used by 
Shakespeare." Murray, New Eng. Diet. See the correct form in 
Genesis, xxvii, 21. 

7. security, in the sense most frequent in Shakespeare and Mil- 
ton. See Ham. i, 5, 61; Mac. iii. 5, 32; Allegro, 91; Par. Lost, 
i, 261. 

12. emulation; used here in a sense now obsolete. See Tro. 
and Cres. ii, 2, 212. 

14. contrive. So in Ham. iv, 7, 136; M. of V. iv, 1, 352, 
860. 

Scene 4. 

May we infer from this scene that Portia knows of the plot ? 
Has Binitus kept his promise to her, ii, 1, 305-808? Or is her 
anxiety due merely to suspicion and presentiment of impend- 
ing trouble? 

39. The five accents are all present in the line. Perhaps the 
interjection is to be expanded to fill an entire foot. The reading 
has been suggested, '•'• O Brutus mine." This satisfies the met- 
rical requirements, but does it sound like Shakespeare? 



!>■ 



NOTES. 109 



ACT HI. 



The conspiracy attains its object in the assassination of Cic- 
sar. Antony, belying Brutus's estimate of his character, 
enters with vigor and craft upon the task of avenging the dic- 
tator's death. 

Scene 1. 

Cassar is slain, and trepidation prevails in the city. Brutus 
believes his own ' ' reasons so full of good regard " that he will 
easily justify himself to the world. He overrides Cassius's 
suggestions of precautionary measures, and with fatal gener- 
osity permits jNIark Antony to speak in Csesar's funeral. 

10. Sirrah. See Webster's Diet. 

29. addressed, ready ^ as always in Shakespeare. 

39. fond, in its primary sense of foolish. Chaucer has the 
noun fojine., meaning a fool. 

67. And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive : All 
men are of one flesh, and belong to one family ; and all men are 
endowed with reason. Yet, etc. 

77. Et tu Brute. These words are probably an invention of 
some dramatist of the poet's own time. They occur in the True 
Tragedie of Richard, Duke of Yorke, a play in whose composition 
Shakespeare probably had a share, and Avhich certainly formed the 
ground-Avork of the third part of his King Henry VI. See True 
Tragedie, v, 1, 53, in the Cambridge Shakespeare. A play on the 
subject of Julius Caesar, Avritten in Latin, by Richard Eedes, had 
been performed at the UniA^ersity of Oxford in 1582. It is possi- 
ble that Ut tu Brute is Eedes's rendering into Latin of the Greek 
Avords, meaning and you my child., Avhich Suetonius says AA^ere 
traditionally reported, — '•- tradiderunt quidani" — as forming 
Caesar's last exclamation to Brutus. Plutarch's account is A-ery 
different :. 

" So Csesar comming into the house, all the Senate stood vp on 
their feete to do him honour. Then part of Brutus company and 



/ 



110 NOTES. 

confederates stood round about Caesar's chaire, and part of tliem 
also came towards him, as though they made sute with Metellus 
Cimber to call home his brother againe from banishment : and 
thus prosecuting still their sute, they followed Csesar till he was 
set in his chaire. Who, denying their petitions, and being offended 
with them one after another, because the more they were denied, 
the more they pressed upon him, and were the earnester with him : 
Metellus at length, taking his gowne with both his hands, pulled it 
over his necke, which was the signe giuen the confederates to set 
vpon him. Then Casca behind him strake him in the necke with 
his sword, howbeit the wound was not great nor mortall, because 
it seemed the fear of such a diuelish attempt did amaze him, and 
take his strength from him, that he killed him not at the first blow. 
But Cassar turning straight unto him, caught hold of his sword, 
and held it hard, and they both cried out; Cassar in latin, O vile 
traitor Casca, what doest thou? And Casca in Greek to his 
brother. Brother, help me. At the beginning of this stir, they that, 
were present, not knowing of the conspiracie, were so amazed 
with the horrible sight they saw, they had no power to flie, neither 
to help him, nor so much as once to make an outcrie. They on 
the other side that had conspired his death, compassed him in on 
euery side with their swords drawn in their hands, that Caesar 
turned him nowhere, but he was striken at by some, and still had 
naked swords in his face, and was hacked & mangled among them, 
as a wild beast taken of hunters. For it Avas agreed among them 
that every man should give him a wound, because al their parts 
should be in this murther. Men report also, that Cajsar did stil 
defend himself against the rest, running every way with his bodie : 
but when he saAv Brutus Avitli his sword drawne in his hand, then 
he pulled his gowne ouer his head, and made no more resistance, 
and was driven either casually or purposedly, by the counsel of 
the conspirators, against the base whereupon Pompey's image 
stood, which ran all of a goare bloud till he was slaine. Thus it 
seemed that the image tooke iust revenge of Pompeys enemie, 
being throwne down on tlie ground at his feet & yeelding up his 
ghost there, for the number of Avounds he had upon him. For it 
is reported, that he had three and twentie wounds upon his bodie : 



NOTES. Ill 

and divers of the conspirators did hurt themselves, striking one 
bodie Avith so many bloAves." Plut., Julius Ccesar. 

86. Where's Publius ? Publins speaks three words, ii, 2, 109, 
and again three words in line 10 of this scene. For wliat dramatic 
purpose can it be that he is introduced ? 

90. Talk not of standing; i.e., we have no occasion to fear 
danger from Caesar's friends. 

95. abide this deed. Chaucer had the word ahyde., to wait for, 
and the word ahye., to answer for, to stand the consequences of. 
Shakespeare, on the authority of the earliest editions, has ahye in 
Mid. N. Dr. iii, 2, 175, 335. But elsewhere in Shakespeare, as 
in modern speech, the two verbs appear with the form abide. 

109, 111. walk we ... let us cry. There is no imperative of 
the first person. Substitutes for such an imperative in the plural 
are made in the two ways here illustrated. The former is the more 
ancient, and is now obsolete. Shakespeare uses both. In the 
Gospel of John, xi, 15, 16, Wy cliff's version has go we., while 
Tyndale and the later translations have let us go. 

122. most boldest. The double superlative is frequent in 
Shakespeare. 

124-138. With this message to Brutus, which is really Antony's 
first speech in his career as champion of Caesar's cause, what may 
be called the second part of the tragedy begins. Ctesar, with '•'• his 
general behavior vain, ridiculous and thrasonical," is gone. Ex- 
'cept Brutus and Cassius, all the conspirators, after shaking hands 
with Antony (186-190) disappear from the scene. Calpurnia and 
Portia have finished their parts. Of Portia's touching death we are 
to hear when a report of it is needed to set off her husband's stoic 
fortitude. 

We have heard Cgesar and Antony discuss the character of 
Cassius, and have seen, from this discussion, that Antony is appar- 
ently incompetent to judge of men. We have heard Brutus and 
Cassius discuss the character of Antony, and, trusting to Brutus's 
insight, have perhaps concluded that Antony is a man of feeble 
quality, ''given to sports, to wildness, and much company." 

As we have learned that Caesar Avas in the right concerning 
Cassius, so now we are to learn that Cassius, and not Brutus, was 



112 NOTES. 

in the right concerning Antony. Antony now suddenly develops 
astonishing powers of action, and consummate tact in managing 
the populace. Having in the play hitherto spoken in all some half- 
dozen lines, he now shows himself an orator, and makes long and 
notable speeches which accomplish their object. He overwhelms 
the conspirators at home and pursues them into distant lands. The 
story of the fourtli act may be entitled, Antony triumphant. 

141. So please him come; please is subjunctive, and cow e in- 
finitive, subject of please. In our expressions, if you please, if he 
pleases., the verb please has departed from its original and true 
meaning. The corresponding verbs in German and French adhere 
to their primitive sense : wenn es ihm gefdllt ; s'il lui plait. 

146-147. In spite of the conciliatory message just delivered by 
the servant, Cassius still has misgivings as to Antony's intention. 

153. rank. See Sonnet cxviii, 12 ; 2 Henry IV, iii, 1, 39. 

159. The fiction that hands stained with fresh blood reek and 
smoke is a commonplace with the poets. 

IGO. Live is subjunctive conditional, with ellipsis of subject. 

172. The first fire is dissyllabic. See Abbott, Shak. Gram. 
475, 480. 

175. in strength of malice. The difiiculty of making sense of 
this passage has led to various alterations of the text. Pope reads, 
exempt from malice ; Hudson, in strength of amity. 

207. lethe, — two syllables. The only instance of the Avord in 
Shakespeare. Do not confound it with lethe., Ham. i, 5, 33 ; T. 
Night, iv, 1, QQ>, and elscAvhere. 

217. pricked. See dictionary. So used again below, iv, 1, 1 
and 16. 

274. " havoc." Look up the derivation. See K. John, ii, 1, 
357; Coriol. iii, 1, 275; Ham. v, 2, 375. 

Scene 2. 

The scene of the famous speeches to the citizens. Brutus 
speaks with studied plainness of manner, disdaining rhetorical 
artifice, presenting his case with fewest possible Avords, as 
though his cause Avere manifestly right and needed no setting 



NOTES. 113 

out. He tries to seem to have brought no passion to his deed 
as assassin. As he hud refused to include Antony as a victim, 
together with Ciesar, so now he makes another mistake in 
allowing Antony to speak after himself. Antony uses all the 
tricks of the demagogue. He is overwhelmed with grief and 
apologizes for his emotion. It is the rhetorician, of course, 
who succeeds, for the audience is a mob. 

Consider the poet's art in casting Brutus's speech in the 
form of prose. See note to i, 1, 33. 

I. satisfied, in the sense of fully informed., convinced. So 
above, iii, 1, 48, 141, 226; Rom. and Jul. ii, 5, 37. 

16. censure, in the sense, usual in Shakespeare, of judge. 
See 2 Henry VI, iii, 1, 275. 

22. Had you rather Caesar were, etc. Had.i the principal 
verb, is subjunctive, as is also were in the object clause; die is 
infinitive. After the than the conjunction that is inserted, though 
in the former clause it was naturally omitted. 

38. enforced is obviously the opposite of extenuated. 

42. a place in the commonwealth; i.e., citizenship in the re- 
public, whose existence was threatened by Caesar's ambition. 

65. beholding, a corruption of the other participle, beholden., 
and in the sense of the latter. 

73. ^'When Cassar's body was brought into the market place, 
Antonius making his funeral oration in praise of the dead, accord- 
ing to the ancient custome of Rome, and perceiving that Ins words 
moved the common people to compassion : he framed his elo- 
quence to make their harts yern the more, and taking Caesar's 
gowne all bloudy in his hand, he laid it open to the sight of them 
all, showing what a number of cuts and holes it had upon it. 
Therewithall the people fell presently into such a rage and mutinie, 
that there was no more order kept amongst the common people." 
Plut., Brutus. 

II. So let it be with Caesar. Antony pretends to agree with 
the assassins of Caesar, assuming that to justify their deed they 
will naturally dwell on the evil that Caesar has done. So in line 
125, '' I rather choose to wrong the dead," etc. 



114 NOTES. 

82, 83. These lines must not be pronounced in an ironical tone. 
In the successive repetitions of this sentiment, in almost the same 
words, throughout the speech^ the tone of irony may be gradually 
introduced and at last employed without restraint. 

91. When that. See Abbott, Shak. Gram. 287. 

132-137. Recur to Decius's interpretation of Calpurnia's dream. 

153. honorable men ! Here, of course, we want the ironical 
inflection to the full. 

194. dint. Dint and dent^ originally forms of the same word, 
have become distinct in meaning. 

256. fire; two syllables. 

Scene 3. 

Consider the dramatic purpose of this brief scene, and 
compare it with the first scene of the play. The incident is 
related by Plutarch. 

12. you were best ; where we should say, you had better. See 
Abbott, Shak. Gram. 230 and 352. 

18. You'll bear me a bang. Not, you will give me a blow, but, 
you will get a blow from me ; me, in the passage, being the ethical 
dative. See Note on i, 2, 264. 



ACT IV. 

After the first scene the entire act is devoted to the unfold- 
ing of the character of Brutus, whom we see jDlaced in the 
most interesting and moving situations, — the quarrel and 
reconciliation with Cassius, the reception of the news of 
Portia's death, the night-scene with the boy Lucius, the inter- 
view with the ghost. Every detail is meant to exalt our 
estimate of the nobility of Brutus. 

Scene 1. 

The triumvirs, having placed themselves at the head of the 
Roman state, have now to settle which of them shall stand at 



NOTES. 115 

the head of the triumvirate. Lepidus goes on an errand: 
evidently it will not be he. Antony, who has sent Lepidus 
away so easily, sets forth in large speech to Octavius the sub- 
servient character of their absent colleague, while Octavius 
keeps his counsel : evidently it will not be Antony. 

9. Recur to Antony's publication of Caesar's will. 

13. Meet : a word of very frequent occurrence in Shakespeare 
and the Bible, but now, unhappily, falling out of use. The ad- 
jective meet is connected, not with the verb of the same spelling, 
but with mete. 

37. abjects: things thrown away, refuse matter. On orts see 
dictionary. 

40. property : a thing owned and to be used, — a tool. 

44. Metrically, a defective line, but usually so printed because 
so given in the first folio, the most authoritative text. All the sub- 
sequent folios have the line thus, — 

" Our best friends made, and our best means stretched out." 

48, 49. See 2 Henry VI, v, 1, 144; Mac. v, 7, 1; Lear, iii, 7, 
54. 

Scene 2. 

The scene serves as an introduction to the next. 

10. satisfied. See note on iii, 2, 1. 

14. resolved. See Tempest, v, 1, 248. We no longer use the 
word quite in this sense. 

23. hot at hand : i.e., '•'• fiery as long as they are led by the hand, 
not mounted and managed with the rein and spur." Schmidt, 
Shakespeare Lexicon. 

Scene 3. 

The quarrel and reconciliation, like the speeches in Act iii, 
are mentioned with meagre detail in Plutarch ; but like those 
speeches, the quarrel scene is essentially Shakespeare's. For 



116 NOTES. 

the foundation of fact the poet is indebted to the biographer ; 
but the life, the color, the movement, all that makes the story 
profoundly interesting, is the poet's. 

8. nice, as in Richard III, iii, 7, 175. 

10. condemned to have : charged with having. See Abbott, 
Shak. Gram. 356. 

44. budge. See M. of V. ii, 2, 20; Rom. and Jul. iii, 1, 58. 

72,73. coin . . . drop . . . to wring. Note the three infinitives, — 
two '•'• pure," and one, in form, gerundial, but all equally infini- 
tives, and objects of had. See i, 2, 173, this play, and also iii, 2, 
22; Othello, i, 3, 191. Consult Abbott, Shak. Gram. 350. 

136. companion : used contemptuously, as in Coriolanus, iv, 
5, 14; V, 2, Q)0^ and many other passages. 

153. tidings : never used Avithout the final s, but regarded in- 
discriminately as either singular or plural. See this play, v, 3, 
54. 

163. call in question : i.e., discuss, as in As You Like It, v, 
2, 6. So, use question., M. of V. iv, 1, 73. 

226. we will niggard. Discuss other uses of the word niggard., 
as in Mac. iv, 3, 180, and Hamlet iii, 1, 13. 

240. some other of my men. Adjectives becoming nouns or 
pronouns do not, regularly, take the plural s. Thus we say, rich 
and "poor alike., many., all., some., etc. Yet Ave say, our betters., and 
we noAV ahvays say others., though, as Ave see, Shakespeare Avas apt 
to use the regular form. 

271. The words let me see constitute in each case a foot. Here 
three words, in rapid utterance, are compressed metrically to oc- 
cupy the time normally given to tAvo syllables. See a case Avhere 
a word of one syllable is made to count for tAvo in consequence of 
slow, deliberate utterance, ii, 1, 55. 

278. stare : the only instance in Shakespeare of tliis Avord ap- 
plied to the hair. 



NOTES. 117 



ACT V. 

Historically, there were two battles at Philippi, separated 
b}' an interval of two weeks. It is the former of these battles 
that the poet adopts as the ground- work of his representation, 
though the death of Brutus took place immediately after the 
second. 

Scene 1. 

7. I am in their bosoms. See 1 Hen. IV, i, 3, 266 ; Lear, iv, 
5, 26. 

8. could be content : would like. 

16. softly : slowly. See softly again in a military connection, 
Hamlet, iv, 4, 8. 

17-20. Remember that according to military usage the ranking 
officer takes command of the right. 

This little touch of acrimonious dissension between Octavius 
and Antony is not in Plutarch, who, however, tells of a disagree- 
ment, that was amicably settled, between Brutus and Cassius, on 
the same question of precedence. Cassius, the older man, yields 
to Brutus in this matter, as we have seen him do whenever differ- 
ence of opinion arose between them. This grudging acquiescence 
of Antony in the leadership of young Octavius the poet invents as 
a foil to set off the ready and willing deference paid by Cassius to 
Brutus. We are not told in the play that Brutus went into tlie 
battle in command of the right of his army ; but as we learn from 
V, 3, 51-53, that Brutus's wing confronted that of Octavius, and 
liave seen that Octavius has insisted on having the command of his 
own right, we must infer that the poet, if he thought the matter 
out, gave to Brutus the subordinate position on the left, choosing 
lierein to differ from his authority. Plutarch tells us: ''Brutus 
prayed Cassius he might have the leading of the right wing, the 
which men thought Avas farre meeter for Cassius : both because he 
was the elder man, and also for that he had the better experience. 
But yet Cassius gave it to him," etc. In his life of Antony, Phi- 
tarch tells us: "• AVhen they had passed over the seas, and that 



118 NOTES. 

they began to make warre, they being both camped by their ene- 
mies, to wit, Antonius against Cassius, and Cassar against Brutus : 
Caesar did no great matter, but Antonius had alway the upper hand, 
and did all." It is interesting to consider why Shakespeare, who 
in so many things follows Plutarch exactly, prefers not to follow 
him in this. 

19. exigent. See Ant. and Cle. iv, 14, 63. 

24. we will answer on their charge : i.e., we Avill let them make 
the overture of battle. 

33. The posture . . . are yet, etc. A grammatical blunder 
still exceedingly common. 

45. Probably to be read as a four-syllable line. 

59. strain. See Pericles, iv, 3, 24. 

66. stomachs. See Hen. V, iii, 7, 166, and iv, 3, 35 ; Ham. i, 
1, 100. 

71. as this very day. The «s is apparently superfluous. See 
Meas. for Meas. v, 1, 74; Eom. and Jul. v, 3,247. Consult 
Abbott's Shak. Gram. 114. 

79. This absolute, or loose, employment of the participle, as in 
coming, has been common throughout the entire modern English 
period, and need not to-day be censured as incorrect or slovenh' 
English. See a participle very loosely used, iv, 3, 218, this play. 

on our former ensign. The comparative /o^mer is here equiva- 
lent to the superlative foremost^ as is shoAvn in the words of Plu- 
tarch, "• There came two Eagles that flying with a maruellous force, 
lighted upon two of the foremost ensignes," etc. 

82. The relative who^ says Abbott, Shak. Gram. 259, ''is 
especially used after antecedents that are lifeless or irrational Mrhen 
personification is employed." 

86. As we were. See Mac. ii, 2, 28; v, 5, 13. 

93. stand, subjunctive. 

94. lovers. See this play, ii, 3, 8 ; iii, 2, 13 ; iii, 2, 44. 

96. Let's reason with the worst: let us confer together invieAv 
of the possibility of the ruin of our cause in the impending battle. 
See M. of V. ii, 8, 27; Eom. and Jul. iii, 1, 55. 

100-107. In this speech Brutus seems determined to stand by 
his stoic principles ; and so Cassius understands him. But in his 



NOTES. 119 

next speech (110-118) he contemplates a fate so horrible as to 
justify him in sacrificing his philosophy. Thus, just as we have 
seen Cassius confess that he could no longer .quite maintain his 
Epicurean opinions, so now we see Brutus shrinking from the 
consistent application of his stoic doctrines. Plutarch, in his life 
of Brutus, tells the story thus : 

'•'• The next morning, by breake of day, the signall of battell was set 
out in Brutus and Cassius campe ... & both the Chieftaines 
spake together in the midst of their armies. There Cassius began to 
speake first, and sayd : The gods grant vs, o Brutus, that this day 
we may win the field, and euer after to liue all the rest of our life 
quietly, one with another. But sith the gods haue so ordained it, 
that the greatest and chiefest tilings amongst men are most vn- 
certaine, and that if the battell fall out otherwise to-day than we 
wish or looke for, we shall hardly meet againe : what art thou then 
determined to do, to flie, or die? Brutus answered him, being yet 
but a yong man, and not oner greatly experienced in the world : I 
trust (I know not how) a certaine rule of Philosophic, by the which 
I did greatly blame and reproue Cato for killing himselfe, as being 
no lawfull nor godly act, touching the gods : nor concerning men, 
valiant ; nor to give place and yeeld to diuine prouidence, and not 
constantly and patiently to take whatsoeuer it pleaseth him to send 
vs, but to draw backe and flie : but being now in the middest of the 
danger, I am of a contrary mind. For if it be not the will of God, 
that this battell fall out fortunately for vs : I will looke no more 
for hope, neither seeke to make any new supply for war againe, 
but Avill rid me of this miserable Avorld, and content me with my 
fortune. For, I gaue vp my life for my countrey in the Ides of 
March, for the Avhich I shall live in another more glorious Avorld. 
Cassius fell a laughing to heare A^^hat he sayd, & imbracing him. 
Come on then (said he) let us go & charge our enemies with this 
mind." 

106. stay. So in M. of V. ii, 8, 40; Mac. iv, 3, 142; 
Ham. V, 2, 24. 

109. Thorough. A frequent form of the preposition Avhen Iavo 
syllables are needed. See Mid. N. Dream, ii, 1, 3. 

113. begun. The English of to-day is still subject to the con- 



1 20 NOTES. 

fusion of a ami o in the past tense, and the participle of such 
verbs as begin., sing., spring., drink., etc. The cause of this con- 
fusion is easily ascertained. 

Scene 2. 

" In the meane time Brutus, that led the right wing, sent little 
bils to the Colonels and Captains of priuate bands, in the 
which he wrote the word of the battell, and besides, the most 
of them neuer taried to haue it told them," etc. Pint., Brutus. 



Scene 3. 

" Cassius thinking indeed that Titinius was taken of the 
enemies, he then spake these words: desiring too much to 
line, I have liued to see one of my best friends taken, for my 
sake, before my face. After that, he got into a tent where no 
body was, and tooke Pindarus with him, one of his freed 
bondmen, whom he reserved euer for such a pinch. Then 
castins: his cloke over his head, and holdingf out his bare 
necke vnto Pindarus, he gave him his head to be stricken off. 
So the head was found seuered from the body : but after that 
time Pindarus was never seene more." Plut., Brutus. 

3, 4. ensign ... it. The ensign is the subaltern officer 
who carried the standard, and the it refers to the standard which 
he bore. 

11. Fly. It is interesting to note that Shakespeare uses the 
present ^ee only once, but the past fled very frequently; while in 
the Bible both tenses are eqiially common. The Bible always 
uses the verb fly., flew., flown in its proper sense. Shakespeare 
uses the past flew properly, but regularly substitutes fly tor flee. 
Remember that the translators of 1011 were influenced by older 
versions, while Shakespeare uses the language of his own day. 

23. See Scene 1, line 71, this act. 

32. Evidently a line of four syllables. 



NOTES. 121 

38. Saving of thy life ; a mixture of participle Avitli the gerun- 
(lial form. 

48. Durst I have done. Durst is here in precisely the same 
construction as is ivere in the clause. Were I Brutus. The mood 
of the verb in the latter case is obvious to the eye : in the former 
case it has to be inferred. 

%Q. Mistrust of my success : not doubt whether I had succeeded 
or not, but full belief that I had miscarried. 

67. O hateful error, melancholy's child. Refer to Cassius's 
speech to Messala, 71-89, this act. Note also what Plutarch says : 
'•'• Touching Cassius, Messala reporteth that he supped by him- 
self in his tent with a few of his friends, and that all supper time 
he looked verie sadly, & was full of thoughts, although it was 
against his nature : & that after supper he tooke him by the hand, 
& holding him fast (in token of kindnesse as his maner was) told 
him in Greeke : Messala, I protest unto thee, & make thee my 
witnesse, that I am compelled against my mind and will (as Pompey 
the great was) to leopard the liberty of our country, to the hazard 
of a battell." 

68. the apt thoughts of men: apt.^ as in iii, 1, 160, meaning 
inclined. See Hamlet, i, 5, 31. 

Scene 4. 

9. ''There was the sonne of Marcus Cato slaine, valiantly 
fighting among the lustie youths." Plut., Brutus. 

14. ""One of Brutus friends called Lucilius, seeing a troupe of 
barbarous men, making no reckoning of all men else they met in 
their Avay, but going all together right against Brutus, determined 
to stay them with the hazard of his life, and being left behind, told 
them that he was Brutus." Plut., Brutus. 



Scene 5. 

2. Statilius had voluntarily gone into the enemies' camp to seek 
for Brutus information about the number of men slain in the bat- 
tle, promising, if all were well, to lift up a torch-light in the air. 



122 NOTES. 

" But his euill fortune was such, that as he came backe, he lighted 
in his enemies hands and was slaine." Plut., Brutus. 

4. '' Now the night being far spent, Brutus, as he sate, bowed 
towards Clitus, one of his men, and told him somewhat in his eare : 
the other answered him not, but fell a weeping. Thereupon he 
proued Dardanus, and said somewhat also to him : at length he 
came to Volumnius himself, and speaking to him in Greeke, prayed 
him for the studies sake which brought them acquainted together, 
that he would helpe him to put his hand to his sword, to thrust it 
in him to kill him. Volumnius denied his request, and so did 
many others : and amongst the rest, one of them said, there was 
no tarying for them there, but that they must needs flie. Then 
Brutus rising up, we must flie indeed, said he, but it must be Avith 
our hands, not with our feet. Then taking eueryman by the hand, 
he said these words vnto them with a chearefull countenance. It 
reioyceth my heart, that not one of my friends hath failed me at 
my need, and I do not complain of my fortune, but onely for my 
countries sake : for, as for me, I think myself happier than they 
that have overcome, considering that I leave a perpetuall fame of 
our courage and manhood, the which our enemies the conquerors 
shall neuer attaine unto by force or money ; neither can let their 
posterity to say, that they being naughtie and unjust men, have 
slaine good men, to usurpe 'tyrannicall power not pertaining to 
them. Having said so, he prayed euery man to shift for them- 
selves, and then he went a little aside with two or three onely, 
among the which Strato was one, with whom he came first ac- 
quainted by the study of Rhetoricke. He came as neare to him as 
he could, and taking his sword by the hilt with both his liands, and 
falling downe vpon the point of it, ranne himself through. Others 
say that not he, but Strato (at his request) held the sword in liis 
hand, and turned his head aside, and that Brutus fell downe upon 
it; and so ranne himself through, and died presently." Plut., 
Brutus. 

23. have beat us to the pit. The figure is taken from hunting. 
See Mac. iv, 2, 35. 

46. smatch : quite the same word as smack. See 2 Hen. IV, 
i, 2, 111 ; and smack as a verb, Mac. i, 2, 44. 



NOTES. 123 

59. To what passage does this line refer ? 

G2. prefer me to you. See iii, 1, 28, this play, and Cymbeline, 
iv, 2, 386, and y, 5, 326. 

69. save only he. Save is of course not a preposition. The 
expression perhaps originated in a nominative-absolute form, — he 
only being saved, i.e., excepted. See T. Night, iii, 1, 172; and 
this play, iii, 2, 66. 

71. a general honest thought: explained in the following 
words. 



LibMAHY OF CONGRESS 




013 998 159 5 



Zbc Hca^eml? Seriee 

OF 

lEriGltsb Classica 

Uniform with this Volume. Price 20 Cents. 



EURKE. 


On Conciliation with the Colonies. 


C. B. Bradley. 


Webster. 


Reply to Hayne. 




C. B. Bradley. 


Addison. 


De Coverley Papers. 




S. Thurber. 


Carlyle. 


Essay on Bums. 




H. W. Boynton. 


Macaulay 


Essay on Addison. 
Essay on Hilton. 
Essay on Johnson. 
Essay on Chatham. 
Essay on Clive. 




S. Thurber. 




Essay on Warren Hastings. 




Shakespeare. 


Julius Caesar. 
Macbeth. 








Other volumes in 


preparation. 





ALLYN AND BACON, Publishers, 

172, Tremont St., BOSTON. 355, Wabash Ave., CHICAGO. 



